UN researchers have warned that humanity was moving dangerously close to irreversible tipping points that would drastically damage our ability to cope with disasters, including the withdrawal of home insurance from flood-hit areas and the drying up of the groundwater that is vital for ensuring food supplies.
These “risk tipping points” also include the loss of the mountain glaciers that are essential for water supplies in many parts of the world and accumulating space debris knocking out satellites that provide early warnings of extreme weather, according to the new report from the UN University (UNU) in Germany.
Although the researchers set out a series of risk tipping points that are approaching, they say that having foresight of these meant that it remained possible to take action to prevent them.
Tipping points are triggered by small increases in their driving force but rapidly lead to large impacts.
The risk tipping points are different from the climate tipping points the world is on the brink of, including the collapse of Amazon rainforest and the shutdown of a key Atlantic Ocean current. The climate tipping points are large-scale changes driven by human-caused global heating, while the risk tipping points are more directly connected to people’s lives via complex social and ecological systems.
Read also: AFDB seeks entries for 2023 YouthADAPT Challenge
In his reaction to findings of the report, Dr Zita Sebesvari, at UNU’s Institute for Environment and Human Security said “as we indiscriminately extract our water resources, damage nature, and pollute both Earth and space, we are moving dangerously close to the brink of multiple risk tipping points that could destroy the very systems that our life depends on,”. “We are changing the entire risk landscape and losing our tools to manage risk.”
Among other things, the report examines six examples of risk tipping points, including the point when building insurance becomes unavailable or unaffordable. This leaves people without an economic safety net when disasters strike, compounding their difficulties, particularly for the poor and vulnerable.
It found that the climate crisis is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather and, for example, a major insurer has already stopped insuring properties in California, due to “rapidly growing catastrophe exposure”, particularly wildfires.
Available reports show that Insurance premiums have also soared in Florida, and six insurers in the state have gone bust due to climate-related floods and hurricanes. The report also said that half a million Australian homes are estimated to be uninsurable by 2030, primarily due to increasing flood risk.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
