Hurricanes, monsoon floods and continuing severe drought made 2017 the costliest year ever for severe weather and climate events, according to a new report by the United Nations weather agency launched on the eve of World Meteorological Day.
Weather-ready, climate-smart is the theme of this year’s World Meteorological Day on 23rd March.
"The start of 2018 has continued where 2017 left off – with extreme weather claiming lives and destroying livelihoods," said Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
Now in its 25th year, the WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2017 drew attention to the high impact that extreme weather had on economic development, food security, health and migration, pointing to estimates showing disaster losses from weather and climate-related events at $320 billion – the largest annual total on record.
The statement confirmed that last year was one of the three warmest on record, and the warmest not influenced by an El Nino event. It also examined other long-term indicators of climate change, such as increasing carbon dioxide concentrations, sea level rise, shrinking sea ice and ocean heat.
According to the report, the North Atlantic hurricane season was not only the costliest ever for the United States, but it also eradicated decades of small Caribbean islands’ development gains.
The report revealed that the overall risk of heat-related illness or death has climbed steadily since 1980, with around 30 per cent of the world’s population now living in climatic conditions that deliver potentially deadly temperatures at least 20 days a year.
Additionally, from November 2016 to December 2017, 892,000 drought-related displacements were recorded.
"Now more than ever, we need to be weather-ready, climate-smart and water-wise," concluded Mr. Taalas.