Five of the world’s top 15 countries vulnerable to climate change dot the vast Pacific Ocean, vulnerable to the storms that sweep across with nothing to hinder them, and must step up efforts to brace for future adverse impacts, according to a special breakout in the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Economic Monitor.
All of the islands have experienced disasters of astonishing magnitude, with tropical cyclones in some cases wiping out as much as 90 percent of dwellings on some islands, and cutting steeply into gross domestic product. Most of them are tiny, including Fiji, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Tonga, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa and the Solomon and Cook Islands, among others, and face problems of amassing the resources to deal with what is shaping up to be huge problems from rising seas, intensifying storms and other climate-related problems.
Source: Asia Sentinel