The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
The Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) 23rd Board Meeting today announced more than US$84.9 million towards United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supported adaptation and mitigation efforts in Bhutan, Timor-Leste, the Marshall Islands and Ecuador. The announcement makes Ecuador the second country to receive financial resources from the GCF for having successfully …
Even a small increase in global warming will have profound impacts on communities, new ACT report finds. Climate change experts from the ACT Alliance network have published a report assessing the threats posed by climate change on the sustainable development goals (SDG) and disaster risk reduction. The report finds that …
The shipping industry has “captured” UN talks on a climate target for the sector, using its clout to delay and weaken emissions curbs. That is the conclusion of a report by business lobbying watchdog Influence Map on the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The study was released to coincide with a …
Former Marshall Islands foreign minister Tony De Brum, who played a key role in securing the Paris climate pact has passed away aged 72. At countless UN climate meetings, Mr De Brum was a passionate champion of the rights of small island states. He was instrumental in securing the "high …
US president delivers two major speeches on climate change, on in Nevada, pleading with politicians to act in the interest of future generations Barack Obama has issued perhaps his most personal plea yet to overcome the existential threat posed by climate change. The US president gave two major speeches on …
Barack Obama has declared the severe drought in the Marshall Islands a disaster, opening the way for emergency US funding for the Pacific island nation. The disaster declaration, which follows a request from Marshallese president Hilda Heine on 1 April, will allow Fema to provide emergency relief to the archipelago, …
Three-quarters of the world’s small islands, home to 16 million people, are set to get more arid by mid-century, according to a study published in journal Nature Climate Change on Monday. Warmer temperatures will evaporate more water than they replenish in rainfall, the survey of 80 island groups found. Among …
It’s hard to imagine the tropical Pacific lacking for water. But the small island states in the Western Pacific are in the midst of a life-threatening drought caused by El Niño with no end in sight. The Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau have all declared states …
Residents in low-lying areas of the Marshall Islands were braced for ongoing flooding Friday, as a series of high tides underscores the Pacific island nation's vulnerability to climate change. A combination of king tides and storm surges have swamped several communities in the Marshalls this week, tossing rocks and debris …
After several meetings that have been made by national climate change negotiators on this world most threatening issue that seems not to spare our health, economy also having a greater threatening effects on the lives and properties of people, there has been few developments made by negotiators of some countries …
BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - After oil prices hit a record high in July 2008, the tiny Pacific nation of the Marshall Islands was forced to declare an economic emergency since around 90 percent of its energy needs were met by imported petroleum products. The fuel price shock was a …
Australia should not attend global talks in Paris refusing to budge on its greenhouse gas emission pledge, the UN's scientific body on climate change has said, ahead of expected international pressure on the Abbott government to do better. Debate over the controversial climate policy continued in Parliament on Wednesday as …
Ministers working towards a new UN deal to tackle climate change, due in December, need a negotiating text that is shorter and more manageable than the current draft, the Marshall Islands' foreign minister said after informal talks in Paris. "It should be something that people can understand, be able to …
It might be one of the world's smallest countries but the Marshall Islands has set an ambitious target to cut its greenhouse gas emissions - and it wants Australia to do the same. In a submission to the United Nations climate change negotiations, the tiny Pacific Island nation has vowed …
A numerical model, XBeach, calibrated and validated on field data collected at Roi-Namur Island on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of Marshall Islands, was used to examine the effects of different coral reef characteristics on potential coastal hazards caused by wave-driven flooding and how these effects may be altered by …
The Marshall Islands' foreign minister, Tony de Brum, says his job is fast becoming one of disaster manager. In the last six weeks, his Pacific island nation has been hit by three typhoons big enough to deserve names, and a dozen smaller tropical storms – an uptick he attributes to …
The corals of the South Pacific have been ravaged by bleaching, according to US government scientists. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said a global die-off was increasingly likely with the return of El Niño conditions. The warmth that caused an unprecedented die-off in the North Pacific in the …
Small island nations, particularly those in the Pacific, are already experiencing "extreme effects" from global warming, and rich nations including Australia have a "moral responsibility" to help them cope with future unavoidable threats, a senior World Bank executive said. Atoll nations including Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands are seeing …
In the Mexican Congress at the 2nd World Summit of Legislators (WSL) 2014 organized by the London-based GLOBE International ¬ nearly 300 senior legislators and scientists from more than 70 countries, including Speakers of Parliaments and Presidents of Congress, brainstormed to formulate a resolution on climate change legislation. With international …
The world is losing the battle against diabetes as the number of people estimated to be living with the disease soars to a new record of 382 million this year, medical experts said. The vast majority have Type 2 diabetes the kind linked to obesity and lack of exercise and …
