Losses caused to India doubled due to change in climate
By Jayashree Nandi
Losses caused to India by extreme weather events more than doubled in the 10 years to 2017 from the previous decade (1998-2007), with the farm sector bearing the brunt, according to a new report published by Action on Climate Today (ACT), a UK-based initiative that works with South Asian governments to build resilience against climate change.
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ACT used data from Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), which records natural disasters on a continuous basis, to suggest that economic losses to India from extreme weather events climbed to $45 billion in 2008-2017 from $20 billion between 1998 and 2007.
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Among the 328 events listed in the EM-DAT database between 1998 and 2017, almost half were floods, which were responsible for the highest economic losses ($45.7 billion), more than losses resulting from storms, landslides, drought and natural disasters.
The agriculture sector bore a major share of the economic losses, according to the report, which said that despite the existence of crop insurance schemes, banks absorbed the brunt of the losses.
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