December 3, 2010

Source: Forbes

Written by Karl Burkart

There’s no doubt United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change delegates are feeling a great deal of pressure to make some tangible progress here at the COP16 climate conference in Cancun. But that pressure may be ratcheted up a notch after the Dec. 3 release of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor, the first definitive study of the impacts of climate change on human health.

The report was prepared by DARA, a leading humanitarian research organization in conjunction with the CVF (Climate Vulnerable Forum) an alliance of 11 nations* that are experiencing the most direct impacts of climate change. The paper was peer reviewed by 11 experts on human health, climate science and disaster relief.

The report offers some sobering findings. Already there are an estimated 350,000 climate-related deaths per year, and that number is expected to nearly double by 2020 and triple by 2030. Not surprisingly, most of those impacted will be children and women in the poorest parts of the world.

The data charts provided in the report reveal a tragic irony — the countries that pollute the most are affected the least. Compare North America with East Africa across four impact types — economic loss, habitat loss, human health and extreme weather impacts:

In the U.S. and Canada, habitat loss increases significantly, but all other impact types remain constant. Africa starts out worse, and gets far worse with mortality doubling while habitat and economic losses quadruple.

DARA director Ross Mountain tries to put these findings in perspective:

If we let pressures more 
than 
triple, or worse, no amount of humanitarian assistance or 
development aid is
 going to 
stem 
the suffering and devastation. Highly fragile countries will 
become graveyards over which we pour 
billions of dollars. Low‐lying
 islands will simply not 
be viable
 anymore, then disappear. We will all pay and we will 
pay big time.

The report looks at 184 countries with some of the hardest-hit countries experiencing a 300 percent increase in climate impacts. By 2030, 170 countries will experience at least one significant climate-related impact. This is bad news for the global economy.

The world is now experiencing about $130 billion in financial losses due to climate change. By 2020, that number will rise to $200 billion, and by 2030 it will be close to $275 billion in annual losses related to managing marketing instabilities, sea level rise and disaster impacts.

The report, though sobering, does end on a brighter note with 50 measures that governments can begin implementing right now to stave off the worst impacts predicted by the Climate Vulnerability Monitor.

* The 11 nations are Bangladesh, Barbados, 
Bhutan, Kiribati, 
Ghana, 
Kenya, Nepal, 
Rwanda, 
Tanzania, Vietnam 
and Maldives.

Karl Burkart blogs for the Mother Nature Network.