Land tenure and natural disasters

The impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis have been increasing steadily since the 1950’s, particularly for developing countries. According to a World Bank external evaluation report “natural disasters destroyed US$652 billion in property worldwide in the 1990s alone – an amount 15 times higher in real terms compared to the 1950s. Approximately 2.6 billion people were affected by natural disasters over the past ten years, compared to 1.6 billion in the previous decade. Developing countries have borne the brunt of these catastrophes, accounting for over 95 percent of all casualties” (IEG, 2006). Asia has been the most affected region with 79 per cent of deaths from natural disasters during the period 2000-20071; while Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the most vulnerable. This trend is not likely to change. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) has confirmed that frequency and in tensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, tropical cyclones, floods and droughts are likely to increase with climate change.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Herrera Garibay, A.; de Wit, P.; Eleazar, L.;Jordán Bucheli, F.;Norfolk, S.; Sánchez Mena, R.;Shafi, S.A.;Climate, Energy and Tenure Division
Format: Book (stand-alone) biblioteca
Language:English
Published: FAO ; 2010
Online Access:https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/I1855E
http://www.fao.org/3/I1855E/i1855e.pdf
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Summary:The impacts of natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis have been increasing steadily since the 1950’s, particularly for developing countries. According to a World Bank external evaluation report “natural disasters destroyed US$652 billion in property worldwide in the 1990s alone – an amount 15 times higher in real terms compared to the 1950s. Approximately 2.6 billion people were affected by natural disasters over the past ten years, compared to 1.6 billion in the previous decade. Developing countries have borne the brunt of these catastrophes, accounting for over 95 percent of all casualties” (IEG, 2006). Asia has been the most affected region with 79 per cent of deaths from natural disasters during the period 2000-20071; while Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are among the most vulnerable. This trend is not likely to change. The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) has confirmed that frequency and in tensity of extreme weather events such as heat waves, tropical cyclones, floods and droughts are likely to increase with climate change.