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UN/DESA Policy Brief #50: International finance to support climate change resilience
In the past 20 years, weather-related disasters affected 4.2 billion people worldwide, with a large loss of life and livelihoods. The global annual average cost of climatic disasters, including floods, storms, droughts and heat waves, is estimated to have risen from $64 billion during the period 1985-1994 to $154 billion in the period 2005-2014. A more complete estimate of global costs, taking into account the loss associated with slow-onset climate events (e.g., sea-level rise and desertification), is likely to yield a larger figure.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #49: Data and statistics for climate change resilience
Identifying the population groups at greatest risk due to climate-related events, understanding the specific risks they incur, and monitoring the interventions to reduce their vulnerability requires basic indicators on populations in vulnerable zones. Furthermore, these indicators must meet international criteria for standardized sources and methods, frequency and continuity, and be easy to understand.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #48: Adaptation to climate change requires transformative policies
Climate change has a differential impact on people and communities. The people at greatest risk are the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized that, in most cases, have been excluded from socioeconomic progress. Differences in wealth; unequal opportunities to access quality health services, education and employment; and inequality with respect to voice and political representation are the underpinnings of continued exposure and vulnerability of large population groups to climate hazards. Public policies have an important role to play in strengthening the capacity of people to adapt, particularly in those areas where the private sector is unlikely to invest.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #47: Benefits of engaging stakeholders in integrated climate impact assessments
At the core of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the intention to build consistency across the various dimensions of development. Implementation of a holistic agenda such as this will increase the demand for integrated assessment approaches as the basis to improve policy coherence. The international community of natural and social scientists has adopted these approaches, particularly for assessing scenarios of potential impacts of climate hazards on people and their livelihoods.