India hit by a fourth of Asia Pacific's $230 bn economic loss due to weather disasters
Mint on the impact of climate change in the Asia Pacific region. India accounts for most of the economic and human losses in South Asia region.
South Asia as a whole, comprising India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka suffered the second highest damages at $59.2 billion during the period, after the East Asian region consisting of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and Mongolia that lost $130.7 billion due to weather-related disasters. India also accounted for 10,000 deaths during this period due to weather-related disasters, representing a majority of the 11,995 deaths in South Asia and a little more than two-fifth of the total 23,525 deaths recorded in the Asia Pacific region during this period due to weather-related disasters.
Central Asian countries, which include Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and West Asian nations such as Israel, Turkiye, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, accounted for 4,723 deaths during the period, the second highest after South Asia. ADB climate envoy Warren Evans told Mint that climate change increases the risks posed by natural hazards and that the multilateral bank is working with its developing country members to understand, reduce, and manage disaster risk.
“We provide solutions and finance to strengthen the capacity of communities, services, and financial systems to address these challenges," Evans said. New Delhi has been taking steps to address the adverse impact of climate change and has announced aggressive targets to cut emissions including a net zero target to be achieved by 2070.
Read more on livemint.com
