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Most countries ‘woefully unprepared’ for climate change: analysis

#countries #woefully #unprepared #climate #change #analysis

Major economies like India, Brazil and Russia are facing “cascading” crises caused by climate change, such as food insecurity, energy shortages and civil unrest, an industry analysis warned on Thursday.

While developing countries in Africa and Southeast Asia are expected to be hardest hit by higher temperatures, extreme weather conditions and sea level rise, some middle-income countries lack the infrastructure and legislative freedom to keep up with the changing climate.

And as Europe counts the cost of another record-breaking heatwave, the analysis showed how even nations with typically few climate-related crises must adapt as global temperatures soar.

The analysis examined countries’ performances on 32 structural issues – including weather-related events, political stability, economic strength, resource security, poverty and human rights – to assess each nation’s ability to deal with crises.

The countries were then divided into three categories: isolated, vulnerable and vulnerable.

Not surprisingly, most wealthy nations have fared well and been best protected against climate shocks thanks to a combination of good governance, purchasing power and robust infrastructure.

Developing countries were primarily classified as vulnerable due to the lack of these safeguards. However, several middle-income countries including India, Indonesia and South Africa also fell into this group.

– Risks will spill over –

“The underinvestment when looking at secondary risks shows that most countries are almost completely unprepared to deal with the broader political, economic and developmental impacts of a warming planet,” the analysis reads.

Will Nichols, head of climate and resilience at consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, which conducted the assessment, said the biggest surprise came in the middle — or “vulnerable” category — which included powerhouses like Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

“Brazil is on the brink,” Nichols told AFP.

“A slight change could put it in that bottom bracket and we’re certainly seeing the erosion of environmental and social protections under (President Jair) Bolsonaro.

“In Russia, warming is eroding Arctic infrastructure and you could see a leader like (President Vladimir) Putin pointing the finger at other groups and trying to expand his territory,” Nichols said.

Despite being a G20 economy, Mexico ended up in the precarious category, largely due to its proximity to Central and South American countries like Venezuela, which is facing extreme climate-related disruptions, particularly in the form of mass migration.

“These risks will not be contained by political borders, they will spill over,” Nichols said.

“Even if you have your house in order, if your neighbor is a rat, it can seriously undermine your ability to protect yourself.”

– ‘Have no resilience’ –

As part of the UN-led climate action plan, rich nations pledged in 2009 to provide $100 billion a year to vulnerable countries by 2020, but have so far failed to even come close to matching that level of funding.

Nichols said the analysis shows the need for developed countries to help nations that cannot help themselves.

“We’ve seen relatively few people arriving in Europe and the US because the climate impact is causing big problems,” he said.

“There is an argument that as isolated nations we have a responsibility to help vulnerable nations protect themselves, which in turn helps protect us.”

Nichols said this week’s deadly heatwave in Europe was proof that even rich countries need to factor climate change into future business and government decisions.

“The scale of the climate threat isn’t diminishing – it’s obviously going to have a huge impact,” he said.

“But countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and South America do not have the resilience to deal with both the physical climate threat and the knock-on effects of political and supply chain instability.”

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