GENEVA: The world should react with the same urgency to climate change as to the coronavirus crisis, the Red Cross said on Tuesday, warning that global warming poses a greater threat than coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Even as the pandemic rages, climate change is not taking a break from wreaking havoc, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC) said in a new report. In 2019 alone, the world was hit by 308 natural disasters — 77 percent of them climate or weather-related — killing some 24,400 people. Faced with this threat, which “literally threatens our long-term survival,” IFRC called on the international community to act with the urgency required. It also lamented that much of the money invested so far in climate change prevention and mitigation was not going to the developing countries most at risk.

Source: Manila Times November 17, 2020 07:30 UTC