Fred Pearce writes in YaleEnvironment on the many factors that lead to natural disasters.
- Politicians and activists often blame climate change for causing all natural disasters while ignoring other infrastructure, land use issues and poor planning issues.
- In Germany for example, increased farms near rivers damaged the water retention of the land which led to increased flooding in 2020.
- Climate change is real, has risks, and influences the frequency and intensity of some extreme weather. However, blaming every natural disaster on climate change can lead to greater damage and vulnerability.
- To truly reduce risk, we must have an honest conversation on all the factors that influence extreme weather.
“Of course both climate change and land drainage were important in causing the floods. But while one will take decades of international action to fix, the other could be healed locally.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
