UNDP, Swiss Re, and Harvard to assess risks of climate change

Citation

(2004), "UNDP, Swiss Re, and Harvard to assess risks of climate change", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2004.07313bab.001

UNDP, Swiss Re, and Harvard to assess risks of climate change

UNDP, Swiss Re, and Harvard to assess risks of climate change

In October 2003, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced a new partnership to investigate the risks posed by climate change and loss of biodiversity that can contribute to natural disasters, the spread of diseases, and other health hazards that often hit poor communities hardest. The initiative partners include UNDP, the reinsurance company Swiss Re, and Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. Together, they are establishing working groups to assess four areas: heat waves and air pollution, emerging infectious diseases, extreme weather events, and impacts on ecosystems. In part, the partnership is a response to the need expressed by many developing countries for assistance in analyzing and mitigating the impact of these risks on communities. Improved risk management could help extend disaster-related insurance to countries where it is currently not available.

When Hurricane Mitch struck Central America in 1998, it claimed 5,700 lives and inflicted $3.8 billion in economic losses in Honduras. However, nearby Belize suffered far less damage, indicating that environmental management, particularly of forests, wetlands, and coral reefs, can play a key role in reducing the toll of disasters on vulnerable communities. There is also strong evidence that climate change and ecosystem degradation can cause existing diseases, such as malaria and West Nile virus, to spread more quickly and also stimulate the emergence of new infectious diseases.

Weather-related insurance losses have increased five-fold since the 1950s, currently reaching $40 billion a year, and are expected to grow to $150 billion a year within the next decade. Although 96 percent of disaster-related deaths occur in developing countries, insurance against such risks is not available in almost all of those nations, making this a central issue in poverty reduction efforts.

The climate change and biodiversity risk assessment will support sound environmental management, such as restoring forests for flood and erosion control, protecting watersheds, and promoting other risk-mitigation activities. In turn this will ensure wider availability of disaster insurance and facilitate progress toward the eradication of poverty and other long-term development goals.

For more information about this initiative, visit UNDP Web site: www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2003/october/9oct03/; or contact: Charles McNeill. E-mail: charles.mcneill@undp.org or Arun Kashyap, UNDP Energy and Environment Group. E-mail: arun.kashyap@undp.org or Victor Arango, UNDP Communications Office. E-mail: victor.arango@undp.org

(Extracted from the Natural Hazards Observer, January 2004)