Improving Adaptability to Global Climate Change and Natural Disasters

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1 Improving Adaptability to Global Climate Change and Natural Disasters Forum: General Assembly 2 Student Officer: Nina Guillemaux, Deputy President Introduction The world has gone through numerous cycles of climate change the natural cycle that causes the earth to oscillate between warm periods and ice ages over the past years, but the recent warming trend is especially in need of attention. Compared to the past where global climate change resulted from natural causes, recently the temperature has began to rise significantly due to human activity since the mid-20th century. According to the United Nations (UN) 2019 Secretary-General, there has been record-breaking temperatures in parts of the world and with the past two decades the warmest on record. Following up with global climate changes, natural disasters are also a very big issue in current society. Although less than the early 20th century, death and injuries occurring from the lack of preparation for natural disasters such as earthquakes are still quite high. According to ourworldindata.org, around 10,000 deaths occurred from the 1990s. However, in the 2010s, around 70,000 deaths are caused by earthquakes around the world. Not to mention the fact that the rate of all natural disasters today is still significantly larger than the 1990s. History/Background According to carbonbreif.org, scientists recently found out that the beginning of human-induced climate change was, in fact, not the later part of the 90th century, but in the 1830s. People had believed that it was the beginning of the Industrial Era that had set off our journey to climate change. However, scientists asserted that it was the Pre-Industrial Era that had set the the real beginning of Effects of Earthquake in Haiti on 2010 climate change off. Over the years, global temperature has risen significantly. In 1960, the annual temperature change was merely degrees Celsius. However, just in 20 years, the annual temperature change rose to 0.27 degrees Celsius. Leading up to current years, the earth has reached its highest point in 2017 with the annual temperature change of 0.99 degrees Celsius. If climate change continues, it will not only affect the ecosystem, but also the living species of earth. On December 26, 2005, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.5 happened in the Indian Ocean, causing a devastating tsunami. Being the third largest earthquake ever recorded on the seismograph, this earthquake created a tsunami which killed 230,000 people in 14 countries that bordered the Indian Ocean. On January 12, 2010, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit Haiti

2 that killed 160,000 and displacing close to 1.5 million people. This event led to the necessity of a large amount of humanitarian aid, which was received. The Cyclone Nargis on May 2, 2008, fell upon Myanmar. This cyclone caused at least 138,000 fatal accidents in densely populated areas. These top three most devastating natural events that occurred after 2000 has led to many renovations and the provision of much humanitarian aid. Without proper adaptations and preparation, countries may suffer from greater problems. International Actions As climate change has become one of the most considered issues around the world, there were several meetings and agreements on the topic of climate change. Some include the Paris Agreement on April 2018 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 24 that occurred from December 3rd to December 14 th, However, it was the Paris Agreement which strongly influenced the thoughts of climate change around the world. The Paris Agreement is an agreement with the United Nations Framework Convention regarding climate change, greenhouse-gasemissions mitigation, adaptation, and finance which will begin in Climate Summit 2019 Poster This led to the Secretary General bringing together the Climate Summit in September Several of the goals that the Climate Summit are strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries; integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning, and improving education; and awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. Places of High Concern Bangladesh Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to natural disasters. Consisting of flat and low-lying landscapes, Bangladesh is very prone to flooding during the winter as it also consists of 80% of floodplains. However, due to climate change and rise in temperature, events such as sealevel rise; cyclones and storm surges; Development of rising of sea level in Bangladesh salinity intrusion; and heavy monsoon downpours have affected the nation. During the last few years, South and Southeastern parts of the country were hit by tropical cyclones. Also, almost the whole coastal belt along the Bay of Bengal is experiencing a salinity problem. Lastly, the fast pace increase in temperature resulted in the extreme weathers in Bangladesh and droughts.

3 India India is the number one country that is affected by natural disasters, with a total of 300 natural disasters in the last 17 years that include drought, earthquake, epidemics, extreme temperature, floods, landslides, and storms. According to the International Disaster Database (IDD), all of these natural disasters have resulted in total 76,031 deaths. However, due to the insufficient amount of preparations and adaptability, the amount of money that India has used in order to repair damages is estimated to be about 63.6 billion dollars. Experts claim that the main reason why India has so much occurring deaths is because of the state government s lack of preparation. It has been said by various experts and researchers that India should be more involved in preparing for the potential natural disasters. China China, being one of the top countries that have experienced severe natural disasters, has experienced top three of the world s most dangerous natural disasters. The three deadly disasters include the 1931 China floods, with a death toll of 3 million to 4 million; the 1887 Yellow River flood, with a death toll of 0.9 million to 2 million; and the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake, with a death toll 0.83 million. One People of Sichuan looking for survivors of the most recent natural disasters that occurred was the Sichuan June 2017 incident. Due to heavy rain, a strong landslide occurred which resulted in 15 dead and 100 missing. Officers, firefighters, doctors, and local citizens actively participated in the search for survivors by lifting up rocks and digging up potential areas. Stance of the P5 Nations United States of America The Federal Natural Resource Science and Management Agencies in the United States decided to begin implementing an adaption project for future risks of climate change. Over the years, they decided on various strategies, documents, policies, and assessments in order to come up with efficient ways of protecting their nation from possible future damage. The following focuses are (1) guiding documents (strategic plans, climate change science and adaptation plans, etc.), (2) education efforts (for employees, stakeholders and the public), (3) partnerships (collaborations with other agencies, organizations, and stakeholders), (4) vulnerability assessments (activities that evaluate sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity of resources to climate change), and (5) adaptation planning (efforts aimed at reducing vulnerabilities and minimizing impacts on agency mission). United Kingdom The United Kingdom has a five-yearly assessment of the major risks and opportunities from climate change known as the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA). This assessment has checkups around UK and regulates the area in order to find and document risk

4 areas and problems that the UK needs to consider. The most recent report in the key areas of UK during 2016 are: flooding and coastal change risks to communities, businesses and infrastructure, risks to health, well-being and productivity from higher temperatures, and risks of water deficits in public water supply. In agriculture the areas are: energy generation and industry, with impacts on freshwater ecology and risks to natural capital- including soils, coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems caused risks. Lastly, problems in biodiversity include: risks from climate-related impacts on domestic and international food production and trade and new and emerging pests and diseases, and non-native species, affecting people, plants and animals. In order to prevent further inconvenience in the future, the UK Adaptation Reporting Power grants the Secretary of State the power to require public service organizations to produce reports on what they are doing to adapt to climate change. France The French Government has explained that on 6th July 2017, the Government s Climate Plan was presented by the Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition. This plan was created by the request of the President and Prime Minister in order to ask all government departments to enhance the pace of energy and climate transitions from the Paris Agreement s implementation, throughout the five-year term. This implementation includes practices such as not reversing the Paris Agreement, improving everyday life for French citizens, and limiting the usage of fossil fuels to head towards a coal-neutral approach. China After the 2014 Climate Summit in New York, China began to considerably look into advancing national policies on climate change adaptation and mitigation as they have been expecting that treating weather can cost them both economically and in health factors. However, due to the fact that China is a very large country, implementation of worldwide policies, balancing the economic factors with works on limiting greenhouse gases are foreseen to be hard. Therefore, China has searched for things that they need to consider and look for in order to actively prevent and help adapt for future climate change. Some of these include gathering urban data and having a cross-disciplinary impact assessment. Russian Federation Russia has around 1,000 deaths that occur from floods and storms. Also, 700 towns in Russia are at risk of landslides. Not only natural disasters, Russia also experiences differences in climate as the western Arctic goes through an annual temperature increase in 2.6 degrees Celsius. In order to prevent further dangers, Russia has been implementing various projects that consist of modernization of computing, archiving, and telecommunications facilities; upgrading of the observation networks; and institutional strengthening, improvement in output dissemination, and emergency preparedness. Possible Solutions Climate change and natural disasters may seem like topics and aspects that cannot be solved easily as it is occurring from the natural environment. However, in order to be able to

5 survive them, countries must begin to implement strategies in adapting to climate change and natural disasters. Some possible solutions may include: 1. Implementing technological factors such as coastal defense and alterations in consumption habits. 2. Mitigation methods to reduce greenhouse gas emission and pollution rate that can potentially contribute to future climate change. 3. Changes and adaptation in building structures for fitting natural disasters. Although it may seem hard to implements and it takes time, it is still very important to be able to think ahead of time and predict future dangers. Countries need to realize their stance in climate change and natural disasters, find potential solutions, and implement them as best as they can.

6 Sources China's Adaptation to Climate & Urban Climatic Changes: A Critical Review. NeuroImage, Academic Press, 19 July 2017, Climate Change. United Nations, United Nations, < Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know? NASA, NASA, 21 Sept. 2018, <climate.nasa.gov/evidence/>. Climate Plan. Gouvernement.fr, < Commonwealth Office. Natural Disasters - China Travel Advice. GOV.UK, GOV.UK, 27 Nov. 2018, < Denissen, Anne-Katrien. Climate Change & Its Impacts on Bangladesh. NCDO, 25 Apr. 2012, < Dillinger, Jessica. Countries Most Prone to Natural Disasters. World Atlas, Worldatlas, 21 Jan. 2016, < Disasters, Natural Disasters, Disaster Prevention, Disaster Preparedness. United Nations, United Nations, <research.un.org/en/disaster/un-resources>. 5 Deadliest Natural Disasters Since Real World Survivor, 23 Feb. 2015, < Global Surface Temperature NASA Global Climate Change. NASA, NASA, 3 May 2018, <climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/>. Global Warming. NASA, NASA, <earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/globalwarming/page6.php>. How Do People Adapt to Climate Change? European Environment Agency, 9 Dec. 2011, < Scientists Clarify Starting Point for Human-Caused Climate Change. Carbon Brief, Carbon Brief, 24 Aug. 2016, < Marcoux, Jean-Philippe. 5 Years after Quake: Journey from Relief to Recovery. Mercy Corps, Mercy Corps, 17 Apr. 2018, < McGregor, Kari. 10 Countries Most Affected by Climate Change. SHIFT Magazine, 23 Nov. 2015, <shift-magazine.net/2015/11/17/10-countries-most-affected-by-climate-change/>. Newar, Naresh. India's Preparedness for Natural Disasters Called into Question. News.trust.org, <news.trust.org//item/ xqs24>. Pappas, Stephanie. Top 11 Deadliest Natural Disasters in History. LiveScience, Purch, 2 Apr. 2018, < Raj, Shubham. DATA STORY: Over 75,000 Deaths, Rs 4 Lakh Crore Lost - the Cost of Natural Disasters in India since Moneycontrol, MoneyControl, < Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser. Natural Catastrophes. Our World in Data, <ourworldindata.org/natural-catastrophes#deaths-from-disasters>.

7 UK Adaptation Policy. Committee on Climate Change, < UNITED NATIONS Climate Summit United Nations, United Nations, <