Natural Disasters and Climate Change Indi Mclymont-Lafayette Panos Caribbean.
Climate change and natural disasters
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Transcript of Climate change and natural disasters
A perspective about the near future
Antonio J. Díaz Mora – Dic2011
CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL
DISASTERS
This slideshow has been
made in order to present
some of the possible
consequences found by the
scientific community in
relation to the global
temperature increase of the
earth.
INTRODUCTION
• Earthquakes, floods, drought and other natural
hazards cause tens of thousands of deaths,
hundreds of thousand injuries and billion of dollars in
economic losses each year around the world.
• About 600 disasters are globally recorded each
year by the Centre of Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters in Brussels.
• The reported number of natural disasters worldwide
has been increasing, from fewer than 100 in 1975 to
more than 400 in 2005.
HAZARDS
• Cyclones.
• Drought and
desertification.
• Wild land fires.
• Floods.
• Mud floods.
• Storms and hailstorms.
• Earthquakes.
• Volcanoes.
• Landslides.
• Ice avalanches.
For instance:
More than 1,600 storm
tracks are dated for the
period 1 January 1980
through 31 December
2000. It supposes more
than 80 each year.
Not all these hazards are
directly related with
climate change, but the
possible relations between
each other, and natural
disasters could increase
enormously the
vulnerability of
populations of all kind of
successes.
INTERACTIONS CHAIN
Greenhouse gasses emissions
Global warming. Wind and rain
patterns.
Rising sea levels. Storms, cyclones
and others.
Coast lost, soil erosion
Less agricultural productivity. Changes in ecosystem and
biodiversity.
Migration patterns, biodiversity lost, genetic
resources.
NUMBER OF DISASTERS
A SAMPLE OF INTERACTION: ARTIC GRACIER RETREAT
• For the last two years, we are undergoing severe cold weather episodes in north America, northern Europe and eastern Asia. The effects are not only the loos of ice sheets but also changes in wind patterns.
• The surface temperature in the Artic sea is even more higher than we expected, because of a phenomenon called ‘Artic Amplification’. Is is believed to be caused by the change in energy absorption, i.e., the darker surface of the sea without ice absorbs more solar energy than the reflective ice.
HOW CLIMATE IS AFFECTED BY GLOBAL
WARMING
Climate alteration
Sea temperature
Oceanacidification
Glacier disappearance and sea level.
Oxygen depletion
Changes in tropical storm frequency, intensity and tracks, that interact with coastal development in urban and rural areas.
Agricultural areas already under pressure from urbanization and other land use changes will become more susceptible to drought, severe weather or floods.
WHAT WE CAN EXPECT
Source: NASA
REFERENCES
• Natural Disaster Hotspots: a global
risk analysis. March 2005. United
Nations. Framework Convention on
Climate Change.
• Centre for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).
• Development Actions and the Rising
Incidence of Disasters. Evaluation
Brief 4. Independent Evaluation
Group. World Bank.