Extreme weather events turbo-charged by man-made global warming have caused over two million deaths and $4.3 trillion in economic losses over the past 50 years, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Between 1970 and 2021, close to 12,000 disasters caused by weather, climate, and water-related hazards occurred, with developing countries hit the hardest. Nine in 10 deaths and 60% of economic losses from climate shocks and extreme weather occurred in developing countries. Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States suffered a disproportionately high cost in relation to the size of their economies.
In Least Developed Countries, WMO reported that several disasters over the past half-century had caused economic losses of up to 30% of gross domestic product (GDP). In Small Island Developing States, one in five disasters had an impact “equivalent to more than five per cent” of GDP, with some disasters wiping out countries’ entire GDP.
Asia saw the highest death toll due to extreme weather, climate, and water-related events over the past 50 years, with close to one million deaths, more than half in Bangladesh alone. In Africa, WMO said that droughts accounted for 95% of the reported 733,585 climate disaster deaths.
Improved early warnings and coordinated disaster management have helped mitigate the deadly impact of disasters, according to WMO. “Early warnings save lives,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. He also pointed out that recorded deaths for 2020 and 2021 were lower than the previous decade’s average.
WMO issued its new findings on the human and economic cost of weather-induced disasters for its quadrennial World Meteorological Congress, which opened on Monday in Geneva with a focus on implementing the UN’s Early Warnings for All initiative. The initiative aims to ensure that early warning services reach everyone on Earth by the end of 2027, with a first set of 30 particularly at-risk countries identified for the roll-out of the initiative in 2023.