Climate-related natural disasters were the number one source of internal displacement between 2008 and 2018, forcing some 20 million people from their homes annually, the international relief group Oxfam said in a report on Monday, urging greater global action to reduce carbon emissions as world leaders meet in Madrid at a crucial United Nations climate change conference
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2019) Climate-related natural disasters were the number one source of internal displacement between 2008 and 2018, forcing some 20 million people from their homes annually, the international relief group Oxfam said in a report on Monday, urging greater global action to reduce carbon emissions as world leaders meet in Madrid at a crucial United Nations climate change conference."Climate-fuelled disasters were the number one driver of internal displacement over the last decade - forcing an estimated 20 million people a year from their homes. While no one is immune, it is overwhelmingly poor countries that are most at risk. Eighty percent of those displaced in the last decade live in Asia, home to over a third of the world's poorest people," the Oxfam briefing, published on the organization's website, stated.
The Oxfam study listed Cuba, Dominica and Tuvalu as the three countries which are most at risk of climate-related population displacement. Nearly five percent of the populations of these countries were displaced by extreme weather each year between 2008 and 2018, the report noted.
Additionally, Oxfam stated that poorer nations were left to bear the brunt of climate-related disasters. The organization estimated that natural disasters in Small Island Developing States, such as Cuba and Tuvalu, were responsible for economic losses up to 20 percent of GDP.
"Governments can and must make Madrid matter. They must commit to faster, deeper emissions cuts and they must establish a new 'Loss and Damage' fund to help poor communities recover from climate disasters," Acting Executive Director of Oxfam International, Chema Vera, said as quoted by the report.
World leaders are currently meeting in Madrid at the 25th UN Climate Change Conference, which will run through December 13. The goals outlined in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement are expected to be at the top of the agenda. Representatives from nearly 200 countries will participate.
