Statistics: Water and Climate, Disaster and Conflict

Almost two billion people were affected by natural disasters in the last decade of the 20th century, 86% of them by floods and droughts.

Droughts cause the most ill-health and death because they often trigger and exacerbate malnutrition and famine, and deny access to adequate water supplies.

Between 1980 and 2000, 75 per cent of the world’s total population lived in areas affected by a natural disaster.

Flooding increases the ever-present health threat from contamination of drinking-water systems from inadequate sanitation, with industrial waste and by refuse dumps.

Globally, the number of great inland flood catastrophes was twice as large per decade between 1996 and 2005 as between 1950 and 1980, and economic losses were five times as great. The dominant drivers of these upward trends are socioeconomic factors, such as population growth, land use change and greater use of vulnerable areas.

Climate variability and climate change will likely exacerbate the frequency and shocks of floods and droughts.

Current IPCC projections of rising temperatures and sea levels and increased intensity of droughts and storms suggest that substantial population displacements will take place within the next 30-50 years, particularly in coastal zones.

A global temperature increase of 3-4°C could cause floods resulting in 330 million climate refugees.

A global temperature increase of 3-4°C could cause changed run-off patterns and glacial melt will force an additional 1.8 billion people to live in a water scarce environment by 2080.