Nearly a half-million people, mostly from the world’s poorest countries, died over the past two decades from conditions associated with climate disasters, according to new findings from the nonprofit Germanwatch. In its annual “Global Climate Risk Index” report released this week, Germanwatch identified Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, as suffering the greatest impacts from such disasters from 2000 to 2019. Rounding out the top 10 for climate disasters between 2000 and 2019 were the Philippines, Mozambique, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand and Nepal. Total losses from countries analyzed were estimated at $2.5 trillion. For the first time, the index does not include the United States beyond Puerto Rico because the underlying database lacked information about the U.S., the authors said.
— source scientificamerican.com | Jan 27, 2021