According to the United Nations report, 2 million people have died due to climate change in the last 50 years, who belong to poor countries. Photo: File
Geneva: A report issued by the United Nations has said that 2 million people have died in the last 50 years due to climate change and the global economy has lost 4.3 trillion dollars. However, 90% of the deaths occurred in poor and developed countries and the economic loss was also shared by them.
Under the UN, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported 11,778 extreme weather events worldwide from 1970 to 2021. It is alarming that their number is increasing. Its victims are poor people living in underdeveloped countries whose contribution to carbon emissions is negligible.
“People who are on the brink of climate disaster are scorching and facing water and floods,” said WMO chief Petri Talas. Referring to Cyclone Mocha in Bangladesh and Myanmar last week, he said that the worst victims of climate disasters are the poor.
According to the report, since 1970, the increase in deaths due to climatic extremes was limited to 50 thousand people per year. After that, they decreased from 2010, which was limited to 20,000 deaths per year. This is due to appropriate measures, satellite technology and early warning systems.
The report also states that a total of 22,608 people have died in the year 2020 and 2021, all of whom have died due to landslides, rain, heat, floods and droughts.
In this context, Pakistan is also included, which is one of the countries affected by climate change. We have seen thousands of deaths in the 2010 flood, the 2015 heat wave and then the 2022 flood.