It is estimated that air pollution costs the world $8.1 trillion annually (or 6.1 percent) of global GDP. The seriousness is bound up with air pollution claiming between 6-9 million lives. Nine cities have over 20 times the maximum level of air pollution recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), including Lahore, Kabul and Agra.
Despite the rise in pollution, the attitudes of large section of the population appears to be slipping away from climate concerns. This is seen in the findings of a new report – ‘Ecological Threat Report (ETR) 2022’, from the Institute for Economics and Peace.
The report finds that since 2019 the world, in general, has become less concerned about climate change. Here, concern has dropped by 1.5 percent to 48.7 percent. It is of further concern that regions exposed to the highest levels of ecological threat are, on average, the least concerned with climate change.
In particular, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia rank war, terrorism, crime, violence and livelihoods as of greater concern. Why such issues are undoubtedly important, climate change impacts will last the longest.
Among all regions, Singapore has recorded the largest fall in serious concern for climate change, with a decline of almost a quarter between 2019 and 2021 to 49.4 percent. Outside of Asia, 13 countries in Europe recorded a decline in concern for climate change, with the largest in Belgium. The populations of both Singapore and Belgium were more likely to be concerned about road safety and their health than climate change.
It is also notable that in China, the world’s largest polluter, only 20 percent of citizens believe climate change is a serious concern. This level has fallen 3 percent since 2019 and it stands as one of the lowest in the world.
The third largest polluter, India has scored poorly at 39 percent but this is an improvement of 3.7 percent (2019 to 2022). The U.S., the world’s second largest polluter, showed slightly more concern than the global average, at 51.5 percent.
When global warming is connected with natural disasters, then the overall response to the resultant issue is hampered further and this has a bearing on a country’s level of resilience.
Here, Asia-Pacific is the region most impacted by natural disasters, followed by sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America and the Caribbean. Flooding is the most common natural disaster globally, with 5,079 incidents recorded since 1981. Over the last decade, the average global cost of natural disasters has been $200 billion per annum. This is four times higher than in the 1980s.
Coupling natural disasters with global warming means that communities in many parts of the world are struggling to recover from one set of conditions before the next disaster occurs.
