India, among the ten most affected by climate change

"The effects of climate change do not understand rich or poor countries ." That is the conclusion reached by the group of experts from Germanwatch, an environmental think tank, during the presentation of its new Global Climate Risk Index, in which they have indicated that three of the 10 countries most affected by climate change are developing regions.

Ten most affected by climate change

“This report indicates that the disasters produced by climate change mainly affect the poorest countries, but the developed countries do not get rid of them. In fact, extreme events have started to do great damage in countries like Japan or Germany ”, commented David Eckstein, member of Germanwatch.

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According to the data in the report, Japan, the Philippines, and Germany have been the countries most affected by these disasters in 2018. They are followed by Madagascar, India, and Sri Lanka.

As for the Philippines, the report has highlighted the presence in the country of Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018, a phenomenon categorized as the strongest measured during that annual period and which affected more than 250,000 people.

Those most affected in the last two decades

On the other hand, the report has also highlighted those countries most affected by extreme events between 1999 and 2018. According to its data, at the forefront of this classification are Puerto Rico, Myanmar, and Haiti, followed by the Philippines, Pakistan, and Vietnam.

"While Puerto Rico remains at the top of the list, compared to the previous report, Myanmar and Haiti climb to the second and third position respectively," the experts explained during the presentation.

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“This is mainly due to the impact of various catastrophes, such as Hurricanes Jeanne, in 2004, and Sandy, in 2016, in Haiti, and the impact of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 in the Philippines. The latter caused the death of some 140,000 people ”, they added.

Heat waves

Of all the extreme phenomena that have affected the countries of the Earth during 2018, the report has identified heat waves as the most devastating.

In principle, the report has indicated that this is because these types of extreme events have become more common due to the continuous increase in global average temperature, but not only because of this. Experts have commented in the presentation that the intense heat waves that have been experienced, for example, in central Europe have triggered other serious events, such as low rainfall, droughts, and damage to people's health.

In this sense, experts have claimed that this COP25 "must address the lack of additional financing in order to help the poorest people and countries to cope with damages and losses."

“They are the most affected by the impacts of climate change because they are more vulnerable to the negative effects that this phenomenon produces due to their limited technical and financial capacity. We must act now ”, they have concluded.

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