The cost of natural disasters in the Pacific reached 4,487 million euros in the last two years, with increasing economic losses, according to an Oxfam study, published before COP29 in Baku.
The cost of natural disasters in Pacific island countries has multiplied eightfold in the last decade, reflecting the region’s greater vulnerability to climate change, according to a report published this Monday by the Oxfam organization.
HE Cost of natural disasters in the Pacific. the 4.81 billion dollars [4.487 milhões de euros] in the last two yearsalso indicated the study by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Oxfam Australia, shortly before the start of the Climate Change Summit (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The report highlights how the region of more than twenty nations and territories is Increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise and natural disasters such as cyclones and coastal flooding.inter alia.
Furthermore, the average losses of the The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Pacific nations due to the climate crisis increased from 3.2% between 2004 and 2013 to 14.3% in the last decadeaccording to a press release from Oxfam Australia.
In the case of Vanuatu this percentage was 80% of its GDP, due to the impact of twin cyclones Judy and Kevin in 2023, adds the report.
This study also reveals that 6.9 of the 14 million people living on islands and atolls in the remote Pacific region have been affected by “multiple climate disasters” during this period, which represents a 700% increase in the number of people affected by this reason.
Based on this data, Oxfam Australia, which has focused on analyzing climate crisis-induced disasters for the past two decades, urged the Australian executive to provide a important funding for the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG, its acronym in English).
The NCQG, which will be discussed during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) in Baku this week, is expected to replace the current collective annual target of $100 billion so that industrialized countries from 2025 can comply with the Paris Agreements and limit the increase in global temperature to less than 1.5º C.
“For the Australian Government and other Western countries this may seem very ambitious, but this research shows that the magnitude of climate damage exceeds what we imagine and worsens every day,” said Oxfam’s executive director for the Pacific, quoted in the statement.
Australia, a country that aspires to organize COP31 together with Pacific nations in 2026, has allocated around $175.3 million [163,6 milhões de euros] in climate finance in 2022-23, while its commitment between 2020 and 2025 was $1,977 million [1.845 milhões euros]according to the NGO.
Source: Observadora
