WUNRN
WORSE EXTREME WEATHER MAY BRING
"PERMANENT EMERGENCIES"- WOMEN
The Philippines - A couple of super typhoon Haiyan survivors
pose with their names displayed on a tablet in Samar province in central
Laurie Goering - November 15, 2013
With efforts to cut climate-changing emissions failing and inadequate funds to
help particularly vulnerable countries adapt to the impacts of climate change,
the world now faces increasingly serious "losses and damage" from
climate change that cannot be dealt with by traditional humanitarian aid, said
Harjeet Singh, a disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation expert at
ActionAid.
Worsening floods, storms and droughts, as well as sea level rise and
desertification are just some of the impacts of climate change.
Case-by-case humanitarian assistantance is not going to work to solve
increasingly large-scale or long-term crises, he said at U.N. climate talks in
The Philippines, for instance, had invested significantly in early warning
systems and disaster response, and was able to evacuate more than a million
people from the area hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan, said Sven Harmeling, head of
climate change advocacy for CARE International.
But "the disaster was so strong that they couldn't really prepare for
it," he said. "That is one of the real challenges for the future. We
will have to invest a lot in adaptation but there will be limits to adaptation,
where we see it's not enough."
LOSSES AND DAMAGE
Climate negotiators agreed last year to establish at this year's
The G77 and
Richer nations have countered at the talks that they see loss and damage as
part of a continuum of action to deal with climate impacts, and suggested it
should be part of already established efforts to fund and support adaptation to
climate impacts, avoiding the creation of any new international structure.
The problem is that "adaptation has a limit" and in some cases,
"the limit has been crossed", said Sandeep Chamling Rai, a senior
advisor for adaptation policy with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
In particular, the failure of countries to act quickly and effectively to limit
climate change, combined with a lack of sufficient funding and transfer of
technology to help poorer countries adapt to the changes, means losses are
growing.
"You can hardly find any country in the world that will not have to face
these challenges," he said.
Singh noted that climate-vulnerable countries at the talks are being urged to
focus on improving their disaster risk reduction and adaptation efforts, but
that will not be enough.
"We are trying hard, but its not really working," he said. "We
are just unable to cope."
FOOD SECURITY THREAT
Harmeling pointed to
Widespread corruption
and security issues in
More frequent extreme
events "can really put countries into such a difficult situation that it's
hard to get out of poverty," Harmeling said.
Recently published
research into losses and damage from climate change by the United Nations
University and the
The research was
carried out in nine countries including
"Across all our
case studies, people told us they are eating less, leaving out meals. Often
parents were cutting down their calories so children could eat more. Women
would give their share to other family members," Warner said.
"Loss and damage
is already significant," she said, and "some of the impacts on
sustainable development may be irreversible".
___________________________________________________
BANGLADESH - WOMEN
STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM REGULAR CYCLONES
NY Times Photo