Report: Number of people affected by climate disasters in the Pacific has increased by 700% in the past decade

Average GDP loss for countries affected by Pacific climate disasters and the Pacific-wide average (billions of Australian dollars) Credit: Escalating emergency: 20 years of Pacific climate disasters (2024)
Climate disasters are causing eight times more damage to the Pacific Ocean than ten years ago
On average, 700 more people have been affected by climate disasters in the Pacific over the past decade than in the previous decade, according to new analysis from Oxfam Australia released on the sidelines of COP29 climate change negotiations that begin in Baku today. % increased.
Oxfam Australia has investigated climate disasters in the Pacific over the past 20 years, revealing data showing the economic and human impacts of climate change have increased rapidly over the past decade. New research highlights the need to finance the loss and damage caused by climate change in the most important agreement to be reached at this COP, the new climate finance target.
The analysis found that in a region of 14 million people, 6.9 million Pacific Islanders have been affected by climate disasters over the past 20 years, not including individuals or households affected by multiple disasters.
The total cost of climate disasters has increased eightfold over the past decade. Over the past two years, costs have reached $7.3 billion.
Average GDP losses for Pacific countries are also increasing every decade, with average annual losses from climate disasters quadrupling from 3.2% between 2004 and 2013 to 14.3% of GDP over the past decade. .
In the case of Vanuatu, these losses amounted to 80% of the country’s GDP, with two devastating events occurring for the island nation in 2015 and 2020. For context, it comes from Australia’s costliest disaster in recent memory (the 2022 Queensland and New South Wales floods). The damage amount reached 0.4% of GDP.
Meanwhile, Australia’s current climate finance commitment from 2020 to 2025 is $3 billion from Australia’s aid budget. If you focus on climate finance specific to the Pacific region, the amount is even lower. In 2022-23, when total disaster costs were $7.3 billion, Australia provided just $265.9 million in climate finance to the Pacific region.
In its influential role as Ministerial Co-Chair of the new Joint Agenda on Climate Finance Negotiations, Oxfam urged Minister Bowen to advocate for Pacific priorities, including in particular loss and damage, and to set strong targets to meet them. We urge you to find ways to support the needs of developing countries.
Oxfam in the Pacific Executive Director Eunice Woten calls for ambition from the Australian government to address the scale of climate damage in the Pacific.
“We recognize that the ambitions of climate activists in the Pacific and around the world are focused on multi-trillion dollar climate finance targets,” Wotene said.
“This may seem too ambitious for the Australian government and many other Western countries, but if this study shows us anything, it’s that the scale of climate damage is far beyond our imagination. It’s getting worse day by day.
“Unless Australia takes decisive action and commits the resources now urgently needed, those numbers will only grow further and the fight for a climate-stable Pacific will become even more difficult to achieve. Now, more than ever, we need to recognize and work together to recognize the great ocean ‘we share this region and we call home,’ she said. .
Oxfam Australia policy and advocacy director Josie Lee said Australia’s climate finance remains far below what is needed in the Pacific region and far below its fair share.
“Australia’s commitment to climate finance is woefully inadequate. This funding shortfall has meant that Pacific Island countries and other countries have been able to protect homes and agriculture, adapt to rising sea levels, and have seen extreme cyclones destroy villages. It prevents them from recovering properly later on,” Lee said.
“If Australia stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Pacific nations at COP29 and indeed partners credibly with Pacific nations to host COP31 in Australia in 2026, we will move further into the question of winning and losing at COP29. A new framework must be set for “Global Climate Finance Targets for Developing Countries”.
“Financing for recovery from loss and damage caused by climate change must be included in new global climate finance targets. “Income countries are unable to protect their communities, rebuild after disasters and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change,” she said.
Further information: Report: www.oxfam.org.au/wp-content/up … _disasters_brief.pdf
Citation: Report: Number of people affected by climate disasters in the Pacific has increased by 700% in the past decade (11 November 2024) https://phys.org/news/2024-11-people -impacted- Retrieved November 11, 2024 from climate disaster-pacific.html
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