Extreme Weather Events Illustrate Heavy Price to be Paid for Failure to Act on Climate Change

Pakistani men throw a bag of flour onto a pile behind a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter that arrived to deliver humanitarian assistance and help with the evacuation of flood victims in the Swat Valley of Pakistan during the flood disaster recovery effort in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Aug. 11, 2010 ©USAID

According to the New York Times, initial estimates for the scale of damages and human suffering for Pakistan's worst flooding in 80 years, is larger than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2005 Kashmir earthquake, 2008 Cyclone Nargis disaster in Burma and 2010 Haitian earthquake—combined. Aid efforts in Pakistan may prove to be the largest in modern history. 

The United Nations has called for a $459 million emergency relief fund. Countries have committed to this amount with the single largest contributor being the U.S.—providing approximately $150 million. Yesterday (25 Aug. 2010), the U.S. announced it will contribute an additional $50 million from a Pakistan development fund headed by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi (as reported in a TIME article), an additional $325 million have been pledged, totaling $818 million in aid for the country.

According to the New York Times, approximately 15-20 million Pakistanis have been affected by flooding, impacting homes and access to clean water, food, health care and sanitation. Infrastructure and agriculture have been hit hard. Agriculture provides income for 70% of the population. The flood inundated 17 million acres of farmland, practically wiping out the country’s cotton crop after the Punjab region lost 1 million acres of the crop. According to Qureshi, at least $2 billion is needed to cover the nation’s agricultural losses.  

Unfortunately, Pakistan, like many poor countries, cannot afford such enormous damages. Their only hope for timely recovery is depending on affluent nations. Much of the aid flowing into Pakistan comes from wealthy countries that can afford lending assistance. However, as more extreme weather events occur from a changing climate, poor countries will be the hardest hit and least capable of preparing and coping with the impacts. The rich world will be required to foot the bill to avoid humanitarian crises and national security threats. 

Opponents of clean energy and climate change legislation often highlight the price tag for limiting fossil fuel pollution, calling the cost too great. However, the costs of reducing emissions will be dwarfed by the expense of coping with the mounting impacts of climate change -- including  the expense of humanitarian aid (nationally & internationally), rebuilding, and the climate-proofing of homes, neighborhoods, cities and entire countries.  The Pakistan flooding exemplifies the high costs of extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and/or severe and the inability of struggling economies to cope with the impacts.

Online Resources:

• Groneworld, Nathan. “Flood Disaster May Require Largest Aid Effort in Modern History.” New York Times. 20 Aug. 2010.
• Waraich, Omar. “Flood Recovery Could Push Pakistan to the Edge.” TIME. 23 Aug. 2010
• Press Release. "U.S. Provides $50 Million in Early Recovery Aid to Pakistan Flood Victims." U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). 25 Aug. 2010.
• Press Release. “Update: U.S. Response to Pakistan's Flooding Disaster.” U.S. Department of State. 23 Aug. 2010.

WWF Climate Blog:

• When poverty meets natural disaster & what that means with a changing climate. 9 Feb. 2010.
• Pakistan Floods Demonstrate National Security Threats from Extreme Weather Events. 20 Aug. 2010.
• Pakistan Floods "a Case Study of a Climate Disaster" Showing Need to Slow Climate Change, Prepare for Impacts. 19 Aug. 2010.
• The Planet Feels the Heat as First Half of 2010 Sets Global Temperature Record. 9 July 2010.
• Climate Change a Recruiting Tool for Terrorists? 10 Aug. 2010.
• Economists: Climate Change Poses Economic Threat while Reducing Emissions Promises Net Benefits . 4 Nov 2009.
• Study on Climate Change and the Economy: "The cost of inaction will be much higher than the cost of action." 17 Nov 2009.
• New Report: Climate Change Impacts Threatens U.S. with "Prohibitive Costs." 10 Sep 2009 . 
• Congressional Budget Office: beware of lower-probability – but catastrophic -- consequences of climate change .  12 May 2009.