INTERCONNECTED DISASTER RISKS REPORT 2023 – REPORT AND INDICES
News:
India heading towards
groundwater depletion tipping point, warns UN report
What's
in the news?
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Recently, a report from the United Nations
University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) outlining
six interconnected risk tipping points that pose immediate and increasing risks
to the world.
Key
takeaways:
Interconnected
Disaster Risks Report 2023 – Six Risk Tipping Points:
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The six risk tipping points include
extinctions, depleting groundwater, melting mountain glaciers, space debris,
unbearable heat and an uninsurable future.
○
A risk tipping point is the moment at
which a given socio-ecological system can no longer buffer risks and provide
its expected functions.
○
After this point, the risk of catastrophic
impacts to these systems increases substantially.
Interconnected
Disaster Risks Report:
Released
by:
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The United Nations University — Institute
for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).
Features:
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Based in Bonn, Germany, UNU-EHS conducts
research on risks and adaptation related to environmental hazards and global
change.
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It is an annual science based report,
first released in 2021.
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The report analyses several concrete
examples of disasters each year and explains how they are inter- connected with
each other and with human actions.
Key
Findings of the Report:
1.
Extinctions:
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Human activities such as land-use change,
overexploitation, climate change, pollution and the introduction of invasive
species have accelerated species extinctions.
2.
Alarming Extinction Rates:
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More than 400 vertebrate species have gone
extinct in the last 100 years and approximately one million plant and animal
species are at risk of extinction.
3.
Cascade Effects:
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The disappearance of one species can
trigger a cascade effect on dependent species and disrupt fragile ecosystems.
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Example: The gopher tortoise, a keystone
species, is facing extinction, affecting over 350 other species, including the
critically endangered dusky gopher frog, which regulates insect populations and
prevents pest outbreaks in longleaf pine forest ponds.
4.
Depleting Groundwater:
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Two billion people rely on aquifers as a
primary source of freshwater and 70% of this water is used for agriculture.
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In India, 78 percent of wells in Punjab
have been labelled overexploited and the north
western
part of the country is predicted to experience critically low groundwater
availability
by 2025.
5.
Melting Mountain Glaciers:
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Glaciers serve as critical water sources
for drinking, irrigation, hydropower and ecosystems.
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Due to global warming, glaciers are
melting at double the speed compared to the past two decades, putting 1.9
billion people at risk.
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Example: Peru’s Quelccaya glacier, once
the world’s largest tropical ice cap, has shrunk by 31 per cent in the last 30
years, contributing to periodic dry season water scarcity and widespread
impacts.
6.
Unbearable Heat:
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This tipping point in this context is a
so-called “wet-bulb temperature” exceeding 35°C, which combines temperature and
humidity.
○
The wet-bulb temperature is defined as the
temperature of a parcel of air cooled to saturation (100% relative humidity) by
the evaporation of water into it, with the latent heat supplied by the parcel.
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High humidity inhibits the evaporation of
sweat, exacerbating the effects of heat and potentially causing organ failure
and brain damage.
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Extreme heat was responsible for an
average of 500,000 excess deaths annually in the last two decades.
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Examples: Wet-bulb temperatures have
crossed this critical threshold in at least two weather stations, one in the
Persian Gulf and one in the Indus River Basin.
7.
Uninsurable Future:
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The frequency and severity of extreme
weather events have increased weather-related disaster damages sevenfold since
the 1970s. Wildfires and storms are also expanding due to climate change.
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In 2022, global economic losses due to weather-related
disasters amounted to $313 billion.
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Example: Over half a million Australian
homes are expected to be uninsurable by 2030, primarily due to rising flood
risk.