14 September 2017
Extreme Weather Events Threaten Peace and Security of the Vulnerable
UN Photo/Logan Abassi
story highlights

Some of the messages from the WMO Expert Team on Climate Impacts on Tropical Cyclones statement on possible linkages between Hurricane Harvey and anthropogenic climate change are also pertinent to Hurricane Irma.

These include: increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes in a warmer climate; and storm surge for land-falling hurricanes exacerbated by ongoing sea level rise, attributable in part to anthropogenic climate change.

UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for DRR and Head of UNISDR Robert Glasser expressed concern over the volume of extreme weather events taking place across the world and their implications for loss of life and damage to the world economy.

12 September 2017: In the wake of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a press release on the possible linkages between hurricanes and anthropogenic climate change. In a statement, UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Head of the UN Office for DRR (UNISDR) Robert Glasser cautioned against threats for the peace and security of exposed and vulnerable communities posed by extreme weather events.

According to the WMO, some of the messages from the 2 September statement issued by the WMO Expert Team on Climate Impacts on Tropical Cyclones on possible linkages between Hurricane Harvey, which ravaged the southern US at the end of August, and anthropogenic climate change are also pertinent to Hurricane Irma. These include: increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes in a warmer climate; and storm surge for land-falling hurricanes exacerbated by ongoing sea level rise, attributable in part to anthropogenic climate change. Irma caused widespread catastrophic impacts in northeastern Caribbean and the US in September. [WMO Press Release] [WMO Statement on Possible Linkages between Hurricane Harvey and Anthropogenic Climate Change] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Rainfall Extremes, Floods Exacerbated by Climate Change Affecting the World’s Regions]

UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for DRR and Head of UNISDR Robert Glasser warned against “intensifying the cocktail of disaster risk” by failing to adequately address GHG emissions, poverty, land use, building codes, environmental degradation and population growth.

Glasser expressed concern over the volume of extreme weather events taking place across the world, including floods and monsoon rains across Southern Asia, deadly landslides and drought in Africa, the impact of four major Atlantic hurricanes and a major earthquake in Mexico with a tsunami threat to Central America, as well as their implications for loss of life and damage to the world economy. He warned against “intensifying the cocktail of disaster risk” by failing to adequately address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, poverty, land use, building codes, environmental degradation and population growth. [UNISDR Press Release]

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The SDG Knowledge Hub publishes regular adaptation and loss and damage updates that can be found under the tag Adaptation and Loss and Damage Update.

 

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