India lost $591m to disasters
India stands 46th among the 195 countries which were assessed for global climate change risk.
Warsaw: India stands 46th among the 195 countries which were assessed for global climate change risk. The rankings were released on Tuesday at the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Warsaw.
According to this global report, India has suffered losses to the tune of $591.28 millions in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2012 alone due to climate change problems.
The report highlights that all the top 10 worst affected countries were the least developed countries. The top three were island nation Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan.
The index was calculated based on the impacts of weather-related loss events from 1993 to 2012 in all countries. For example, losses in tragedies like the tsunami and cylone Thane that affected Puducherry and the recent Uttarakhand flash floods have been computed using the adjusted value.
PPP is a mathematical formula, which economists use to create parity between two currencies to make them compared. In simple terms, purchasing power parity could be called as adjusted value.
Releasing the report, Sonke Kreft and David Eckstein said, “This index is an analysis based on one of the most reliable data sets available on the impacts of extreme weather events and associated socio economic data. More than 5,30,000 people have died as a direct result of almost 15,000 extreme weather events.”
They mentioned that many developing countries are already taking measures in preparation for climate related disasters, promoting as well as implementing adaptation.