Wildfires
In the U.S., the western part of the country, with its vast tracts of forest, is particularly at risk for wildfires. The wildfire season has already increased by 85 days in the past two decades ,an occurrence that's closely linked to warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt.
Countries such asCanada and Australia also face significant risk of wildfire. Additionally, in some parts of the world, milder winters have enabled tree-eating beetles to invade forests and leave behind dead wood that fuels fires.
According to the Environmental Defense Fund: "Because milder winters have allowed beetles to survive in regions where they could not previously, northern regions are among the places hit particularly hard by wildfires. Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia, and Siberia are susceptible to fires in the summertime—especially during warm, dry years. Huge tracts of Arctic spruce and pine forest in these areas have gone up in smoke."
Hurricanes
Florida, where over 75 percent of the population resides near the coast, has experienced more tropical storms and hurricanes since the 1970s than any other state, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. The EDF reports: "Recent studies show that hurricanes are becoming more powerful—for example, there are twice as many Category 4 and 5 hurricanes today than there were 35 years ago.
This trend is expected to continue as global warming gets worse." In addition to Florida, America's other Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard states are likely to see heightened hurricane activity. "Many parts of the United States face a dramatic hurricane risk, with New York/Long Island, Miami/Fort Lauderdale,and Galveston/Houston probably topping the list if we judge by the potential for large-scale destruction and economic impacts to major population centers," according to Chris Mooney's Storm Watch:
Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming. Beyond the U.S., countries with densely populated, low-lying coastal areas, such as Bangladesh and other Southeast Asia nations, face a continued and significant risk of cyclones and other tropical storms.
Droughts/Water Shortages
Regions of the world at risk for water shortages include the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, the Middle East, Pakistan, Central Asia, the North China Plain, the Southwest United States and Australia's Murray-
Darling Basin, according to Jeffrey Sachs' Common Wealth: Economics for a crowded Planet. As
Sachs, the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, explains: "These are the areas in
particular that are mining the groundwater, living on temporary glacier melt, and experiencing
declining precipitation as a result of long-term climate change. In many cases, declining water
availability is exacerbated by rising populations, extreme poverty, ethnic divisions and other political
cleavages that make problem solving especially complicated." A report from the British Medical
Journal states that approximately one-third of the planet's population resides in "water-stressed
countries" and that figure is predicted to rise to 5 billion people by 2025.
Floods
As sea levels rise due to global warming, the world's densely populated, low-lying areas will be the
most flood-prone. According to a 2008 NPR.org report: "Many of these areas are found in Asia, such as
the Ganges River Delta, the Mekong River Delta and islands in the South Pacific." The report notes
that the world's top 10 cities with the highest flood risk are: Mumbai, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Miami,
Ho Chi Minh City, Calcutta, greater New York City, Osaka-Kibe, Alexandria and New Orleans.
As withother types of natural disaster, the poor will be least-equipped to handle more frequent and heavier
flooding.
As the NPR report states: "They don't have the resources to build protection for their cities or
to help people move. These communities also tend to rely heavily on local water and food supplies.
Water may become contaminated by a major storm, and a rising sea level can contaminate wells.
Salinity from rising sea levels also can cause serious problems for farmers."Submitted by Dwight Barnell
