LONDON (AlertNet) - Climate change could cut gross
domestic product in countries vulnerable to weather catastrophes by up to
a fifth by 2030 unless urgent steps are taken, a report has said.
The study by the U.N.-backed Economics of Climate
Adaptation Working Group aims to provide a way to evaluate the cost of climate
change and suggest ways to keep the bill down.
This is especially important for poorer devloping countries which may have to spend billions defending against climate change. They want richer, more developed nations to give them more aid to improve their defences.
"Easily identifiable and cost-effective measures -- such
as improved drainage, sea barriers and improved building regulations, among many
others -- could reduce potential economic losses from climate change for all
regions," a statement accompanying the 147-page report said.
Entitled "Shaping climate-resilient development", the
report comes three months before a summit in Copenhagen where governments hope
to reach a global deal to fight climate change.
The study looked at eight areas, both rich and poor,
around the world seen as high risk from more droughts, hurricanes, floods and
rising sea levels that climate change may cause.
In the worst-case scenario, global warming could trigger
severe flooding in Guyana, costing the South American country over 19 percent of
its annual GDP by 2030, the report said.
The hurricane-prone U.S. state of Florida could see
weather-related costs knock 10 percent off its GDP each year.
The group that produced the report is made up of the
United Nations, the Global Environment Facility, insurer Swiss Re, management consultancy McKinsey, the European
Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, Standard Chartered Bank and
environmental network ClimateWorks.
URGENCY NEEDED
In a foreword to the report, Nicholas Stern, a British
economist and former government advisor on the impact of climate change, said
that too little was being done to stop it and to limit the carbon dioxide
emissions that are a main cause of it.
"Countries will need to plan for adaptation with much
greater rigour, focus and urgency than has been the case until now," he
wrote.
"We owe it to the most vulnerable people on the planet
to combine the best-possible support to strengthen adaptive capacity."
One of the biggest arguments in the run-up to Copenhagen
is just how much cash developed nations should give poorer nations to combat the
problem.
The report said warming may increase hurricane damage in
Florida, costing the state an extra $33 billion a year by 2030.
In the central Indian state of Maharashtra, extreme
droughts that historically occurred every 25 years could emerge every eight
years and cost the economy billions of dollars.
David Bresch, one of the report's authors and head of
sustainability and emerging risk management at Swiss Re, said the report aimed
to lay out guidelines for decision makers to assess potential effects.
"This is the first study that really thrashes out the
adaptation policies and puts a price on them," he said.
Last month an academic report said adapting to worse
floods, droughts and other climate problems would probably cost many times more
than the United Nations had so far estimated.
The U.N. climate change secretariat, UNFCCC, puts costs,
including measures such as growing drought-resistant crops and limiting the
spread of diseases, at $40 billion to $170 billion a year until 2030 -- the wide
range reflecting the uncertainty.
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