Bangladesh has been identified as number sixth most affected country in long-term climate risk index with annual losses amounting to over US$ 2.3 billion.
It suffered on an average 187 incidents a year, with economic losses worth nearly 0.68 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP). Some 642 people died in the incidents on an average a year in the country.
Germanwatch, a German think-tank, disclosed these at its latest Global Climate Risk Index 2018 report, launched on the sidelines of COP23 in Bonn, Germany, on Thursday.
The 13th edition of the analysis further confirms the fact that the less developed nations are more vulnerable to climate risk.
The Global Climate Risk Index 2018 analyzes to what extent the countries have been affected by impacts of the weather-related events, like - storms, floods, heat-waves etc, referring to the available data of 20 years from 1997 to 2016.
Its Long-Term Climate Risk Index (CRI) includes the 10 most affected countries from 1997 to 2016 (annual average), where Honduras, Haiti and Myanmar top the list.
The top three countries in the long-run (1997-2016) have been measured due to Hurricane Mitch in Honduras in 1998, Hurricane Sandy in Haiti in 2012 and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008.
Pakistan is ranked seventh, with a death toll of 523.1 lives per year with 10,462 lives lost in 20 years and economic losses worth $ 3.8 billion, equivalent to 0.605 per cent of its GDP in the 20-year period.
Most of the countries, affected in the long-term index from 1997 to 2016, hold the same position as in the last year's long-term index (1996 to 2015), such as Honduras, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam are on first, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth positions, respectively.
Furthermore, of the ten most affected countries during the 1997-2016 period, nine were developing ones in the low income or lower-middle income country group.
Nine were developing countries in the low income or lower-middle income country group, while only one (Thailand) was classified as an upper-middle income country.
These results highlight particular vulnerability of the poor countries to climate risks, despite the fact that absolute monetary losses are much higher in the rich countries. Loss of life, personal hardship and existential threats are also much more widespread in the low-income countries.
Dr A Atiq Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies - an independent research organisation on sustainable development, told the FE that Bangladesh is ranked sixth because the country is beset with multiple vulnerabilities.
"We are vulnerable for floods, quakes, seawater surge and even food shortage… so we are so up in the list."
He, however, said the government and the international organisations concerned have been working on the measures to minimise the losses through various mitigation strategies.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
