UN collects data on climate change losses

Around 26 million people are pushed into poverty every year due to extreme weather events, 90% of which are linked to climate change.

A new UN initiative is to quantify the impact of disasters that resulted due to climate change.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) will focus mainly on losses from extreme weather to help countries better cope with them.

It estimates around 26 million people are pushed into poverty every year due to extreme weather events, 90% of which are linked to climate change.

Around 144 countries have indicated they will send their 2017 data this month to its Sendai Framework Monitor online data capture system.

Mami Mizutori, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction said: “Improving how we manage risk is vital and this requires a deeper understanding of where these losses are occurring and not just for major internationally recorded events.

“The silent, small recurring events such as floods and droughts can take a huge toll on communities which lack essential health services and other coping capacities.”

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