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Inforpress Centroamericana
Inforpress Centroamericana. Feb 28, 2008
Region especially vulnerable to natural disasters
The 2007-2008 Human Development Report published by the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) examines the impact of climate
change and warns that global warming could have a disastrous impact on
many developing nations if world leaders do not take serious steps to
reduce carbon emissions.
The effects of climate change will have
a particularly strong impact on developing countries that lack the
resources to adapt to global warming and protect themselves against
disasters such as drought or hurricanes.
The report concludes
that the developed world must rethink an economic model based on
unfettered consumption that has proven environmentally unsustainable.
However, the bitter wrangling that went on during the recent Bali
Climate Change Conference made it clear that many developed nations
lack the political will to resist mounting pressure from the motor
vehicle industry to reduce pollution targets.
Although no one
will escape the effects of climate change, it is clear that developing
countries will be hit hardest as natural disasters become more frequent
and those with the least resources sink even deeper into poverty.
While
this is undoubtedly true, most experts agree that climate change has
made the world more prone to hurricanes. As well as making the isthmus
more vulnerable to natural disasters, the rise in ocean temperature
will have a strong impact on biodiversity in the region, as can be seen
by the progressive erosion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
Impact of climate change on the isthmus
The
report concludes that climate change will worsen poverty and inequality
in a region that already has one of the worst inequality indices in the
world.
The chasm between developed and developing countries will also widen.
Inequality in terms of human development makes a country more vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
For
instance when Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala, disparities between the
indigenous and non-indigenous population prevented a speedy recovery in
the aftermath of the disaster.
The Center for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) manages the International Disaster
Database (EM-DAT) which records all information on natural disasters
across the globe. However, EM-DAT has failed to record the impact of
natural disasters on marginal urban populations such as shanty town
dwellers or on remote rural areas.
When Hurricane Stan hit
Guatemala, EM-DAT recorded the 500,000 people who were directly
affected by the disaster — those who died or lost their homes — but not
those who suffered from chronic malnutrition after they lost their
crops.
The impact of Hurricane Mitch, which hit Honduras in 1998
is another case in point. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the
country’s poorest households lost between 30 percent and 40 percent of
their income after their crops were destroyed.
As a result, the number of Hondurans living below the poverty line rose from 69 percent to 77 percent.
Honduras
is one of the most unequal countries in the world with a Gini
coefficient of 54 for wealth distribution, which means that the poorest
20 percent of the population receives 3 percent of the country’s income.
When
a country like Honduras is hit by a natural disaster and the poor loose
what little income they may have, the vicious circle of poverty and
inequality only worsens. This should act as an ominous warning for
Central America where sustained economic growth over the past 14 years
has failed to reduce inequality.
Safety measures
According
to “Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean 2006,” a report
published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), points out
that Latin America has made progress in terms of developing disaster
mitigation programs but warns that much work remains to be done for the
region to adapt to changing weather patterns.
However, the
world’s poor are not passive victims when disasters strike. Although
many people in the developing world cannot afford insurance policies,
they have developed their own insurance mechanisms, such as gathering
livestock during normal seasons which can then be sold in times of
crisis or diversifying agricultural produce and means of income.
For
instance, in El Salvador, a survey revealed that people living in urban
shanty towns invest up to 9 percent of their income in protecting their
dwellings against floods and use family labor to build walls and
drainage canals.
Indigenous people will be among the worst
affected by climate change as they depend on ecosystems which will
suffer the impact of changing weather patterns.
The report
concludes that developed countries, home to just 15 percent of the
world’s population, generate almost half of all carbon emissions and
must take responsibility for the effects of this in developing
countries by reducing their emissions 30 percent by 2020, and by
greater investment in funds to prevent and mitigate natural disasters
in these countries.
Governments in the region must also play a
role in combating climate change in their own way, such as
reformulating their energy policies.
Researcher Gian Carlo
Delgado Ramos, of the Autonomous Metropolitan University of
Azcapotzalco in Mexico, says increased hydroelectric projects that are
booming throughout Meso-America as a part of Plan Puebla Panama (PPP),
have been erroneously labeled environmentally-friendly.
The
researcher says that they contribute to global warming since vegetation
and other organic material is flooded and decomposes with exposure to
large quantities of carbon dioxide and methane.
The 2007-2008
Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) examines the impact of climate change and warns that
global warming could have a disastrous impact on many developing
nations if world leaders do not take serious steps to reduce carbon
emissions.
The effects of climate change will have a
particularly strong impact on developing countries that lack the
resources to adapt to global warming and protect themselves against
disasters such as drought or hurricanes.
The report concludes
that the developed world must rethink an economic model based on
unfettered consumption that has proven environmentally unsustainable.
However, the bitter wrangling that went on during the recent Bali
Climate Change Conference made it clear that many developed nations
lack the political will to resist mounting pressure from the motor
vehicle industry to reduce pollution targets.
Although no one
will escape the effects of climate change, it is clear that developing
countries will be hit hardest as natural disasters become more frequent
and those with the least resources sink even deeper into poverty.
While
this is undoubtedly true, most experts agree that climate change has
made the world more prone to hurricanes. As well as making the isthmus
more vulnerable to natural disasters, the rise in ocean temperature
will have a strong impact on biodiversity in the region, as can be seen
by the progressive erosion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.
Impact of climate change on the isthmus
The
report concludes that climate change will worsen poverty and inequality
in a region that already has one of the worst inequality indices in the
world.
The chasm between developed and developing countries will also widen.
Inequality in terms of human development makes a country more vulnerable to the impact of climate change.
For
instance when Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala, disparities between the
indigenous and non-indigenous population prevented a speedy recovery in
the aftermath of the disaster.
The Center for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) manages the International Disaster
Database (EM-DAT) which records all information on natural disasters
across the globe. However, EM-DAT has failed to record the impact of
natural disasters on marginal urban populations such as shanty town
dwellers or on remote rural areas.
When Hurricane Stan hit
Guatemala, EM-DAT recorded the 500,000 people who were directly
affected by the disaster — those who died or lost their homes — but not
those who suffered from chronic malnutrition after they lost their
crops.
The impact of Hurricane Mitch, which hit Honduras in 1998
is another case in point. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the
country’s poorest households lost between 30 percent and 40 percent of
their income after their crops were destroyed.
As a result, the number of Hondurans living below the poverty line rose from 69 percent to 77 percent.
Honduras
is one of the most unequal countries in the world with a Gini
coefficient of 54 for wealth distribution, which means that the poorest
20 percent of the population receives 3 percent of the country’s income.
When
a country like Honduras is hit by a natural disaster and the poor loose
what little income they may have, the vicious circle of poverty and
inequality only worsens. This should act as an ominous warning for
Central America where sustained economic growth over the past 14 years
has failed to reduce inequality.
Safety measures
According
to “Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean 2006,” a report
published by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), points out
that Latin America has made progress in terms of developing disaster
mitigation programs but warns that much work remains to be done for the
region to adapt to changing weather patterns.
However, the
world’s poor are not passive victims when disasters strike. Although
many people in the developing world cannot afford insurance policies,
they have developed their own insurance mechanisms, such as gathering
livestock during normal seasons which can then be sold in times of
crisis or diversifying agricultural produce and means of income.
For
instance, in El Salvador, a survey revealed that people living in urban
shanty towns invest up to 9 percent of their income in protecting their
dwellings against floods and use family labor to build walls and
drainage canals.
Indigenous people will be among the worst
affected by climate change as they depend on ecosystems which will
suffer the impact of changing weather patterns.
The report
concludes that developed countries, home to just 15 percent of the
world’s population, generate almost half of all carbon emissions and
must take responsibility for the effects of this in developing
countries by reducing their emissions 30 percent by 2020, and by
greater investment in funds to prevent and mitigate natural disasters
in these countries.
Governments in the region must also play a
role in combating climate change in their own way, such as
reformulating their energy policies.
Researcher Gian Carlo
Delgado Ramos, of the Autonomous Metropolitan University of
Azcapotzalco in Mexico, says increased hydroelectric projects that are
booming throughout Meso-America as a part of Plan Puebla Panama (PPP),
have been erroneously labeled environmentally-friendly.
The
researcher says that they contribute to global warming since vegetation
and other organic material is flooded and decomposes with exposure to
large quantities of carbon dioxide and methane.
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