More people worldwide are now displaced by natural disasters than by conflict

1. Natural disasters

3. • More people worldwide are now displaced by
natural disasters than by conflict.
• In the 1990s, natural catastrophes like hurricanes,
floods, and fires affected more than two billion
people and caused in excess of $608 billion in
economic losses worldwide-a loss greater than
during the previous four decades combined.

4. • "By degrading forests, engineering rivers, filling in
wetlands, and destabilizing the climate, we are
unraveling the strands of a complex ecological safety
net," said Senior Researcher and author of Unnatural
Disasters Janet Abramovitz.

5. • For example, China now recognizes that
forests are ten times more valuable for flood
control and water supply than they are for
timber, and has halted logging in the Yangtze
River watershed.
• The loss of 85 percent of the forests in the
upper Yangtze River worsened the 1998 flood
that affected 223 million people.

9. • Scientists believe the increase in hydro-
meteorological disasters is due to a combination of
natural and human-caused factors. Global warming is
increasing the temperatures of Earth's oceans and
atmosphere, leading to more intense storms of all
types, including hurricane, El Niño and La Niña.
What's going on?

12. How to prevent many so-called
natural disasters?
• Be mindful of the world around you.
Be aware of your impact on the world around you
and the fact that you are connected with the
world around you. Everything we do to world around
us, whether destructive or creative, will eventually
be reflected in that world.
• The best way to avoid natural disasters is to learn
to live in greater harmony with the nature
world, respecting its natural cycles of "destruction"
which are actually crucial to life on Earth.
• Stop blaming nature for poor human
planning