UN compares 20-yr period from 1998-2017 Climate disasters cost 150% more Bhutan alone on eco-friendly path

Geneva, Oct. 10: The economic cost of climate-related disasters hit $2.25 trillion over the last two decades, an increase of more than 150 per cent compared to the previous 20 years, the UN said on Wednesday.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) noted that “climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events” such as floods and storms.

Between 1978-1997, total losses for climate-related disasters was $895 billion, UNISDR said in a report based on data compiled by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

But between 1998-2017 that figure hit $2.25 trillion, the report said, listing the US, China, Japan and India as the countries where financial toll has been highest.

The findings were released as Michael, a Category Four hurricane, rumbled towards the Gulf Coast of Florida, in the latest storm to threaten vast destruction across the eastern US. “The report’s analysis makes it clear that economic losses from extreme weather events are unsustainable and a major brake on eradicating poverty in hazard exposed parts of the world,” the UN secretary general’s special representative for disaster reduction, Mami Mizutori, said in a statement.

UNISDR counted the number of climate-related disasters between 1998-2017 at over 6,600. — AFP Punakha, Bhutan, Oct. 10: The gentle whirring of the wind turbine speaks volumes of Bhutan’s record as the world’s only carbon negative country, but major challenges stand in the way of the Himalayan kingdom’s decision to follow a green path over rampant economic expansion.

The mountainous state, holding only its third election on October 18, absorbs three times more Co2 than it emits, thanks mainly to the lush forests covering 72 percent of its land.

Famed as the “last Shangri-La” for using happiness as a measure of success, Switzerland-sized Bhutan was careful to keep its environment pristine, by sacrificing profits.

The nation of 800,000 has restricted tourist numbers with a daily fee of $250 per visitor in high season, helping keep at bay the kind of boom that has ravaged other scenic hotspots. The constitution stipulates that 60 percent of Bhutan must be covered in forest. —AFP