Much has been said in Argentina during 2023 about the economic impacts of climate change, specifically with the drought that affected different agricultural sectors and produced economic losses in the order of US$20,000 million for the country, without taking into account the drag on other items associated with the export, transportation and processing of said harvest.
A negative balance that averaged over all Argentines would mean an annual loss of about US$425 per person. Huge figure in its equivalent in pesos, which in any case is below other climate disasters of the last year in different parts of the world.
The Christian Aid charity measured the impact of forest fires and devastating floods in different parts of the globe during 2023, and created a ranking that tops Hawaii, with a negative per capita cost of US$4,161, as a result of the fires that hit the US archipelago. from Pacific.
In second place were the strong storms in Guam, with average losses of US$1,455 per inhabitant. And further south also in the Pacific, the storms in Vanuatu, with a balance in the red of US$947. In neighboring New Zealand, the storms had a negative impact of US$468 per capita, and the resulting floods added another US$371 per capita in losses. Italy, with balances in the red of US$164 per inhabitant as a result of the floods, is the most affected European country, followed by Spain, which in contrast reports losses of US$50 per citizen, as a result of the drought.
In South America, Chile was affected by fires as well as floods that meant a deficit of US$39 and US$30 respectively. While Peru had losses of US$20 per capita due to the storms and another US$9 due to the floods.
And in this world map of balances in crisis, powers such as the United States and China could not avoid the climate impact either, although of course, prorated over a greater number of inhabitants, the negative balances were reduced to US$31 per capita in the North American case, since US$23 per capita in eastern land due to floods.
Impact
According to the analysis of the list of the 20 most costly climate disasters of 2023, a “global lottery against the poor” is revealed. This is how the report from the Christian Aid organization qualifies, which found that strong storms (like the one suffered by Buenos Aires and surrounding areas a few weeks ago), floods, droughts and fires, are severely affecting those who can least afford to rebuild, and which are coincidentally the countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis by burning less fossil fuels than rich nations, which have faced fewer climate disasters.
The research examined 20 natural disasters exacerbated by climate breakdown that affected 14 countries over the past year. The highest human cost was the Hawaii wildfires in August, which far exceeded the second costliest, the Guam storms.
The analysis highlights that countries with worse infrastructure and weaker housing face higher costs after a climate disaster, as their inhabited areas are very easily destroyed. In areas where people have faced the highest costs, many are employed in agriculture, which is vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, while being least favored by governments with respect to prevention and reconstruction investments.
Fragility
Patrick Watt, chief executive of Christian Aid, explained: “When it comes to the climate crisis, there is a global postcode lottery that is stacked against the poor. In the most needy countries, people are often more vulnerable to climate-related disasters and therefore have fewer resources to recover. The result is that more people die and the recovery is slower and more uneven. And there is a double injustice in the fact that the communities most affected by global warming have contributed little to the problem.”
“Governments urgently need to take more action at national and international levels to reduce emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. And when the impacts go beyond what people can bear, the loss and damage fund must have resources to compensate those countries condemned for the effects of a crisis that they did not generate,” Watt added.
Loss and damage, which concerns the richest and most polluting countries, versus those that emit the least fossil fuels and are most affected by climate breakdown, has become part of climate negotiations in recent years. Developing countries have demanded climate justice after facing disasters that have been extremely costly to resolve.
At the Cop28 climate summit, held this year in Dubai (the oil zone par excellence), the rich countries most responsible for the current climate emergency pledged a combined total of just over US$700 million to the loss and damage fund, less than 0.2% of the economic resources of the giants present. An imbalance that will be the subject of debate immediately, with the effects of climate change becoming increasingly palpable.
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