Researchers believe human exposure to extreme weather will increase as climate change and population growth continue through the decades.
The Resilience to Extreme Weather report released by the Royal Society looked at what regions will be most vulnerable to disasters such as floods, droughts and heatwaves, the University of Bristol reported. The findings were made using mapped climate and population projections.
"For the first time this report makes clear that global society is not resilient to the extreme weather that we experience now, and that in the future, with population and climate change, we will be even more threatened," said Professor Bates, a member of the report working group.
The report calls for global governments to focus on reducing people's exposure to extreme weather both presently and in the future. By 2015, an agreement is expected to be reached regarding "climate change, disaster-risk reduction and sustainable development."
"Importantly the report makes a number of practical suggestions, such as encouraging businesses to report exposure to natural hazards in their annual accounts, that will start to address this situation," Bates said.
The report highlights the current failure of financial systems to adequately prepare for extreme weather crises. It calls attention to the need for interventions such as financial regulations that require businesses to report their exposures to extreme weather in hopes of building global financial resilience.
The report also addresses the need for "early action, planning, and adapting to changing populations and climate to build resilient societies." This can include physical barriers such as sea walls and other low-cost ecological approaches planting vegetation on flood plains.
"We have examined people's resilience to weather- and climate-related extreme events, in particular, floods, droughts and heatwaves. We look at how improvements can be made to protect lives and livelihoods by comparing the options available and considering the fundamental building blocks for resilience," the researchers stated in the report.
See the full report here.
