The ten disasters in one year that killed 10,000 people and cost $ 280,000 million

Disasters that occurred between 2021 and 2022 They caused the deaths of around 10,000 people and cost 280,000 million dollars, according to a United Nations report, which points out that environmental disasters are linked, but so are solutions.

The “Interconnected Disaster Risks 2021/2022” report prepared by researchers at the United Nations University analyzes ten disasters that occurred between 2021 and 2022 around the world and in which economic, political, social or environmental factors have influenced.

Among the catastrophes analyzed are: the heat wave in British Columbia (Canada), the earthquake in Haiti, hurricane Ida, floods in Lagos, fires in the Mediterranean, food insecurity in Madagascar, drought in Taiwan , the eruption of the volcano Tonga, the disappearance of the marine vaquita and wandering elephants.

According to experts, these events were selected for their notoriety and the representation of a “larger global problem that has changed or will change life around the world”, but also identifying solutions, which are also interconnected and can be developed to prevent future events or manage problems that have already occurred.

The facts

They also point out that to understand the “underlying conditions” that caused these disasters, it is necessary to look “below the surface” and identify the factors that caused the disastersand point to problems such as deforestation or urbanization.

And they cite as an example what happened in the “devastating” landslides during the Haiti earthquake, the formation of sandstorms in southern Madagascar and the sedimentation of water deposits in Taiwan.

According to the document, deforestation is caused by “economic interests”without taking into account the environmental consequences, a fundamental cause defined as “underestimation of environmental costs”.

However, they point out that the “driving” factors of disasters consist of “shared root causes‘, such as’ economic or political systems’.

From the University of the United Nations, the researchers remind us that “no one is an island. We are interconnected” and all actions have consequences for humanity.

Therefore, as interconnection increases, shared risks also increase and to manage these risks, it is necessary to “understand why and how they are interconnected”.

Only in this way will adequate solutions be found, because the planet is facing an unprecedented level of extreme events that “affect people – especially the most vulnerable – and nature”, with increasingly frequent and intense phenomena, epidemics and catastrophes of human origin. .

Sustainable consumption

Among the solutions proposed in the document is the improvement of early warning systems which would have reduced the number of casualties during the British Columbia heatwave, the Tonga volcano tsunami and the Lagos floods.

Likewise, they urge consumption in a sustainable way to reduce pressure on ecosystems and gain protection from dangers such as floods in Lagos or New York. But also, be able to preserve water resources and food in times of scarcity, as evidenced by the disappearance of the vaquita porpoise and the drought in Taiwan.

The report which can be consulted at https://interconnectedrisks.org/ also proposes to strengthen governance to increase the capacity of institutions and thus develop initiatives that reduce the risk of disasters.

For this, they say, it is necessary to let nature act, including nature “prescribed combustion” to prevent mega-fires in the Mediterranean, restore forest ecosystems to prevent soil degradation such as in the Haiti earthquake, drought in Taiwan or food insecurity in Madagascar.

Similarly, the regeneration of urban rivers and streams e the application of urban planning which takes into account the risks to reduce flooding as with Hurricane Ida.

They are, according to the experts of the United Nations University, “measures that exploit the processes of nature to reduce dangers”.

Redistributing resources across generations, countries and groups of people with different vulnerabilities or asking for the inclusion of stakeholders who are rarely heard will mean that some will have to share their resources more widely than they currently doconclude.

Source: EFE

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