Poverty and climate crisis: “In low-income countries 189 million people are affected by disasters every year”

ROME – On average 189 million people are affected by extreme weather events in developing countries each year since the cost of climate change for low-income countries began to be measured in 1991. This is the alarm launched today in a new report released by the Loss and Damage Collaborationof which Oxfam it is part of over 100 researchers, activists and policy makers from all over the world. A dossier that, a few weeks after the start of the Cop 27denounces how rich countries have repeatedly opposed any attempt to finance the response to the climate crisis in poor countries, which are only minimally responsible for the current emergency.

The close link between inequality and the climate crisis. In 20 years the fossil sector has made stratospheric profits, while 55 of the countries most affected by the climate crisis have suffered damages for 500 billion dollars. “Some data is enough – reads a document released by Oxfam – to return the picture of how much inequality and the climate crisis go hand in hand. In the first half of 2022 alone, six of the largest players in the global fossil fuel industry (BP, Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Total and Eni) made $ 70 billion in profits higher than the cost associated with climate disasters. which hit developing countries in the first six months of the year. Overall – the note continues – 55 of the poorest countries in the world have suffered economic losses from extreme climatic events for 500 billion dollars in the first 20 years of the century “.

The extraordinary profits of the fossil sector. “While profits for those who sell energy from fossil fuels have increased dramatically for years – says Francesco Petrelli, political advisor of Oxfam Italy – millions of people living in the most disadvantaged places on the planet pay a huge bill to climate change. The fossil sector – he added – made stratospheric profits between 2000 and 2019: an amount that exceeds the cost of the climate crisis by almost 60 times in the 55 most vulnerable countries analyzed “.

97% of people affected by climate disasters live in poverty. According to estimates reported in the report, 79% of registered victims and 97% of people affected by extreme climatic events since 1991 lived in developing countries. The number of climate disasters in the poorest areas of the planet has more than doubled over the same period, causing over 676,000 victims.

– Africa – according to data fromAfrican Development Bank – is losing between 5 and 15% of GDP per capita per year due to climate change, despite being responsible for less than 4% of polluting emissions globally.

– Climate chaos in Pakistan and East Africa: This year’s catastrophic floods in Pakistan directly affected at least 33 million people and costs have been estimated at over $ 30 billion.

For humanitarian interventions only 1% of the necessary. Yet the UN humanitarian appeal for floods is estimated at just $ 472.3 million (just over 1% of what is needed) and only 19% funded. A totally insufficient response to help millions of people who have lost their livelihoods, caught in the grip of hunger, disease, psychological consequences of the disaster. Pakistan will be forced to apply for another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to recover from the floods. If an ad hoc fund were set up to finance losses and damages, new and additional resources could come in the form of grants to ensure that the country is not burdened with new debt in the aftermath of a climate disaster.

The drought that is killing in Africa. At the same time, in East Africa due to the terrifying drought that hit the countries of the area, on average 1 person every 36 seconds could literally die of hunger in the coming months. The number of people suffering from hunger is in fact already beyond that recorded during the 2011 famine, when more than 250 thousand people died. Here too, however, the United Nations appeal to respond to the emergency is currently underfunded for over 3 billion dollars.

Not future scenarios, but of now. “At the Cop 27 – says Francesco Petrelli – it will be necessary to find an agreement on the financing necessary to face the losses caused by the climate crisis. We are not faced with a future scenario, but with a humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place at the moment – Petrelli insists – the issue of financing necessary to face the cost of the increasingly destructive impact of climate change, which cannot be averted. from the mitigation and adaptation policies adopted to date, it is destined to be at the center of the next Cop27which will be held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt “.

All the “No” of last year’s COP26. The low-income countries present at the conference were united in calling for the establishment of an ad hoc fund to finance losses and damages, to ensure a global approach to climate impacts. However, the proposal was rejected by the richer countries in favor of a three-year dialogue – the Glasgow Dialogue – with no tangible objectives. A choice made without taking into account that any slight increase in global temperatures will lead to further climatic catastrophes with an estimated loss of between 290 and 580 billion dollars by 2030 for developing countries. The calculation does not include non-economic losses and damages, such as the psychological impact on the population or the loss of biodiversity, which are extremely serious but not completely translatable into monetary terms.