Climate disasters occur every week, UN warns Disaster reports warn developing countries must prepare for major impacts Climate disasters are occurring as often as once a week, although they rarely attract international attention, and developing countries need to urgently prepare Faced with the impact, the United Nations warned. Things like Cyclone Idai, which hit Mozambique and Kenya, and drought in India made international headlines. But most "low-impact events" that cause casualties, displacement and damage occur much sooner than expected. "This is not about the future, it's about the present," said Mami Mizutori, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction. This means that dealing with the climate crisis is no longer a long-term issue, but must be invested now. She said: "People must talk more about adaptation. Climate-related disasters cost an estimated $520 billion per year, but funding for infrastructure to combat the effects of global warming is only $3%, or $2.7 trillion over the next 20 years. Mizutori said: "It's not a huge amount of money (in terms of infrastructure spending), but investors are not doing enough. Tolerance needs to become a commodity that people will buy." This means that new infrastructure standards need to be regularized , such as houses, road and rail systems, factories, electricity and drinking water supply networks, are less vulnerable to flooding, drought, hurricanes and extreme weather. Until now, much of the work on the climate crisis has focused on “mitigation” – the big talk of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, not to be confused with mitigating the effects of the climate crisis. Adaptation to climate impacts is far ahead of the conversation, in part because advocates and scientists have been concerned for years about the false complacency of people thinking they can adapt to such impacts without reducing emissions, and because emissions reductions are easily measurable. This makes issues of resilience or increasing tolerance difficult to focus on. Mizutori believes time has run out for these debates. "We talk about the climate emergency and the climate crisis, but if we can't face this problem (adaptation impacts), we won't survive," she told reporters. "We need to examine the risks of not investing in tolerance." Early warnings of severe weather, better infrastructure such as flood protection or water pipes to cope with droughts, and greater government awareness of which areas are vulnerable can all prevent smaller disasters. She said that these are not just problems faced by developing countries, such as the recent forest fires in the United States and the occurrence of heat waves in Europe. Rich countries also face the challenge of strengthening their infrastructure and ways to protect people from disasters. "Nature-based solutions" should be a priority, such as mangrove swamps, forests and wetlands that can form natural barriers to floods, Mizutori said. A further question is how to protect people living in slums or informal settlements. The poor, women, children, the elderly, the disabled, the homeless and those living in informal settlements without basic facilities are the most vulnerable. She said building codes and regulations must also be updated and properly enforced to cope with the climate crisis. One of the government issues pointed out by Mizutori is that while the responsibility for the climate crisis and greenhouse gas emissions typically lies with one department, such as the economy, environment or energy department, the responsibility for infrastructure and people's protection lies with other parts of government. She said, "We must examine these issues more holistically." Source: The Guardian (2019/07/07) Compiled by: PIDC
