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SAVE OUR PLANET… Countries ranked in terms of climate change risk. Maplecroft, a global
risks advisory firm based in the UK, recently released a Climate Change Vulnerability Index
2011, evaluating 170 countries as a tool for companies to be able to assess economic risk
due to global warming. The countries deemed to have the highest vulnerability in the next
30 years were Bangladesh, followed by India, Madagascar, Nepal, Mozambique, the Philippines,
Haiti, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. To arrive at their rankings, the analysts
included such factors as poverty levels, exposure to climate-related events, ability to respond
to such disasters, and reliance on agricultural land that could be prone to droughts and flooding.
(Interviews in English) Nirmal Hari Rajbhandari - Director General,
Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Nepal (M): The extreme weather events are increasing.
The pattern of monsoons is also changing. The number of glacier lakes are increasing.
And the glacier is retreating. So it has a lot of negative impacts on water resources,
in agriculture, and in different fields.
VOICE: The next category of “high risk” nations included China, Brazil, and Japan,
while Russia, the US, Germany, France, and the UK were rated as “medium risk” countries.
The report also pointed out that countries considered to have the most potential for
future expansion are also among the most threatened in terms of the safety of their populations,
ecosystems, and business environments. These include the Philippines, Âu Lạc (Vietnam)
and Pakistan.
Dr. M. Mohsin Iqbal - Head of Agriculture Section, Global Change Impact Studies Centre,
Pakistan (M): I come from Pakistan, where we had the worst floods in history. In the
history of Pakistan, we did not have so much floods. They devastated infrastructure, buildings,
rails, roads, and they incurred a heavy loss to the economy of Pakistan.
Nirmal Hari Rajbhandari - Director General, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Nepal
(M): Global warming is the main cause. Livestock is also one of the main causes, because the
methane is also one of the greenhouse gases which is immediate from these livestock activities.
VOICE: Our thanks Maplecroft, for alerting us to the impacts of climate change that are
affecting countries throughout the international community. May your report prompt actions
to protect the future of all world citizens especially through the rapidly mitigating
plant-based diet. During an October 2009 videoconference in Formosa (Taiwan), Supreme Master Ching
Hai made an urgent plea to address the main cause of climate change and avoid further
global devastation.
Videoconference with Supreme Master Ching Hai
Taichung, Formosa (Taiwan), October 11, 2009
Supreme Master Ching Hai: If we really want to get to the bottom line to find the most
effective solution to climate change, we absolutely cannot go on ignoring the most urgent, serious
cause - that is the animal consumption and the like - because it is heating up our Earth
at a dangerous speed, causing catastrophic disasters everywhere. Losing loved ones, losing
homes, losing lives, losing hopes. Right now as we are speaking, Bangladesh is only half
the size of what it used to be decades ago. The list never ends if we continue to partake
in this killing phenomena, massacring tragedy called “animal industry.” We can replace
this with hundreds more varieties of nutritious, healthy life-saving food substances. Please
help us to inform people before it’s too late.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/356041,india-and-bangladesh-extreme-risk-from-climate-change.html http://www.maplecroft.com/about/news/ccvi.html�