Bangladesh Faces $3 Billion Annual Loss from Extreme Weather Events
The Climate Risk Index 2025 report reveals that Bangladesh experiences nearly $3 billion in annual losses from extreme weather, affecting over 6.3 million people annually. The study highlights the impact of climate change on vulnerable nations and calls for increased climate financing and global cooperation to confront these challenges.
Bangladesh incurs an average annual cost of nearly $3 billion from extreme weather events, affecting over 6.3 million people each year. These findings emerge from the Climate Risk Index 2025 report published by Germanwatch on February 13. The report delineates the toll of such disasters over the last three decades, particularly impacting countries in the Global South, which continue to suffer from escalating extreme weather events.
The report indicates that between 1993 and 2022, approximately 9,400 extreme weather events globally resulted in nearly 800,000 fatalities and economic losses totaling $4.2 trillion. Among the countries severely impacted are Dominica, China, and Honduras, while Bangladesh is ranked 31st in terms of vulnerability to these disasters.
The Climate Risk Index evaluates the human and economic impacts of extreme weather by assessing fatalities, injuries, and homelessness. Notably, an extreme heatwave from March to May 2022, which hit 49.5°C in Nawabshah, Pakistan, was succeeded by heavy flooding. This heatwave similarly affected India and Bangladesh, resulting in over 90 deaths across these nations.
A real-time analysis by the World Weather Attribution project indicates that climate change increased the likelihood of this heatwave by 30 times, highlighting the urgent threat posed by consecutive climate events. Nevertheless, Bangladesh has made significant strides in reducing disaster-related fatalities through proactive climate adaptation and disaster risk management strategies, serving as a global model.
Effective risk prevention measures have dramatically reduced cyclone-related mortality in Bangladesh, plummeting from 500,000 deaths in the 1970 cyclone to 4,234 in 2007. While countries like China, India, and the Philippines face recurring extreme events, Dominica, Honduras, Myanmar, and Vanuatu experience exceptional weather disasters. Italy, Spain, and Greece also rank among the ten most affected nations worldwide in the last three decades.
Laura Schaefer, Head of International Climate Policy at Germanwatch, underscores that the climate crisis has evolved into a global security threat needing coordinated multilateral solutions. The report indicates that the Global South is more vulnerable, and the current data may underrepresent the full extent of the damage, with increasing instability signifying an unpredictable crisis phase.
David Eckstein, a senior advisor for Climate Finance at Germanwatch, warns that insufficient action on climate issues carries dire ramifications, affecting even affluent nations. He highlights that the losses incurred over 30 years, amounting to $4.2 trillion, paralleled Germany’s entire GDP, cautioning that delaying mitigation efforts will escalate human and economic costs.
The impending Brazil Climate Summit provides a critical platform to address the deficit in climate financing for vulnerable nations. Lina Adil, Policy Advisor for Adaptation and Loss & Damage at Germanwatch, asserts that limited resources exacerbate the difficulties faced by affected countries and calls for stronger mitigation efforts to maintain the 1.5°C global warming target.
The Climate Risk Index illustrates instances where economic losses from extreme weather surpass entire nations’ GDPs. Vera Kuenzel, senior advisor for Adaptation and Human Rights at Germanwatch, advocates for more robust climate risk management and increased support for the most vulnerable nations to curtail both human and economic losses.
In summary, the Climate Risk Index 2025 report highlights Bangladesh’s significant financial losses and human impacts due to extreme weather events, while also noting the country’s success in reducing disaster-related deaths through effective management strategies. The report calls for increased climate financing and robust global cooperation to address the pressing challenges faced by vulnerable nations. As the climate crisis continues to evolve, timely and coordinated action is imperative.
Original Source: www.tbsnews.net
