Environment News Service: Some of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies, especially those in South Asia, are most at risk from climate change, finds a new global ranking that calculates the vulnerability of 170 countries to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years. The 2011 Climate Change Vulnerability Index, released by global risks advisory firm Maplecroft, evaluates 42 social, economic and environmental factors to assess national vulnerabilities across three core areas.The index is mapped in Maplecroft's Climate Change Risk Atlas 2011, which evaluates the risks to business relating to emissions, unsustainable energy use, regulation and climate change vulnerability. The countries at the greatest risk are characterized by high levels of poverty, dense populations, and exposure to climate-related events, as well as their reliance on flood-prone and drought-prone agricultural land.
Bangladesh tops the list of countries at extreme risk, and India is close behind in second place. Madagascar is third, Nepal fourth, Mozambique is in fifth place and the Philippines comes sixth. Haiti, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar (Burma), in that order, round out the top 10 countries listed as at extreme risk. Vietnam and Pakistan are also listed in the extreme risk category, although not in the top 10.
"These countries are attracting high levels of foreign investment from many multinational organizations," said Dr. Matthew Bunce, principal environmental analyst at Maplecroft. "However, over the next 30 years their vulnerability to climate change will rise due to increases in air temperature, precipitation and humidity," he said....
A 2010 flood in Dhaka, shot by Rezowan, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation
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