The
floods in the Huai and Yangtze Rivers in China between
July and September were the second most costly events,
with losses estimated at around $8 billion. Tornados in
the United States in April and May accounted for the biggest
insured losses - over $3 billion.
"We
will have to get used to the fact that extreme summers,
like the one we had in Europe this year, are to be expected
more frequently in the future and that they will become
more or less the norm by the middle of the century,"
said Thomas Loster, head of the UNEP Finance Initiative's
climate change working group and Munich Re's head of weather/climate
risks research.
UNEP
Executive Director Klaus Toepfer added that, "Climate
change is not a prognosis, it is a reality that is, and
will increasingly bring human suffering and economic hardship."
Toepfer
welcomed the $400 million in pledges made in Milan to
help developing nations cope with the impact of climate
change (UNEP release, Dec. 10).
Despite
the numbers presented in the study, some officials gathered
in Milan said they still doubt the impact of global warming,
BBC Online reports today.
"I'm
becoming more and more convinced ... that global warming
is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American
people and the world," U.S. Senator and Chairman
of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
James Inhofe told a conference briefing.
According
to BBC Online, Inhofe's view is shared by many in the
U.S. Congress (BBC Online, Dec. 11).
Yesterday,
the Inuit people of Canada and Alaska announced in Milan
that they are launching a human rights case against the
administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, saying
that the country is violating the people's human rights
by not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and refusing to cut
greenhouse gas emissions.
Inuit,
which means "people," is the generic name given
to indigenous people of the Arctic. Its populations include
Canadian Inuit, Alaska's Inupiat and Yupik people and
the Russian Yupik.
"We
are already bearing the brunt of climate change - without
our snow and ice our way of life goes," said Sheila
Watt-Cloutier, the chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference, which represents 155,000 people. "We
have lived in harmony with our surroundings for millennia,
but that is being taken away from us."
Under
the campaign, the Inuit people are asking the Washington-based
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to rule against
the U.S. government, saying it is violating their human
rights. Although the commission has no power to enforce
any action, the campaigners believe the case will embarrass
the U.S. government and educate the U.S. public.
"Most
people have lost contact with the natural world,"
said Watt-Cloutier. "They even think global warming
has benefits, like wearing a T-shirt in November, but
we know the planet is melting and with it our vibrant
culture, our way of life. We are an endangered species,
too" (Paul Brown, London Guardian, Dec. 11).
Copyright, National Journal Group, Year.
