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. 2018 Aug 21;15(9):1802.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph15091802.

An Assessment of the Relationships between Extreme Weather Events, Vulnerability, and the Impacts on Human Wellbeing in Latin America

Gustavo J Nagy  1 , Walter Leal Filho  2   3 , Ulisses M Azeiteiro  4 , Johanna Heimfarth  5 , José E Verocai  6 , Chunlan Li  7   8
Affiliations

An Assessment of the Relationships between Extreme Weather Events, Vulnerability, and the Impacts on Human Wellbeing in Latin America

Gustavo J Nagy et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Climate change and variability are known to have an influence on human wellbeing in a variety of ways. In Latin America, such forces are especially conspicuous, particularly in respect of extreme climatological, hydrological, and weather events (EWEs) and climate-sensitive disasters (CSDs). Consistent with the need to study further such connections, this paper presents an analysis of some of the vulnerabilities of environmental health issues and climate-related impacts that are focusing on EWEs and CSDs in Latin American countries. The research includes an analysis of the (i) human and socio-economic development; (ii) geographical and socio-economic determinants of vulnerability and adaptability of environmental health issues (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity); (iii) occurrence of CSDs from 1988 to 2017 and their direct impacts on human wellbeing (Total death and Affected people); (iv) an online survey on the perceptions of the effects of EWEs on human wellbeing in a sample of countries in the region; and (v) discussion of possible solutions. The socio-economic and development indices, and the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT) and Climate-Risk Index (CRI) disaster statistics suggest that the impacts of CSDs are primarily related to socio-economic determinants of human wellbeing and health inequalities. Also, >80% respondents to the survey say that the leading causes of climate-related human impacts are the lack of (i) public awareness; (ii) investment and (iii) preparedness. The paper concludes by adding some suggestions that show how countries in Latin America may better cope with the impacts of Climate-sensitive Disasters.

Keywords: climate change; climate change adaptation; climate disasters; environmental health; geographical determinants; online survey; socioeconomic determinants; sustainable development; vulnerability; wellbeing.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Drivers-Vulnerability-Actions interactions schematic (inspired by [1,4,17,25,26]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Human Development Index (HDI) vs. Fatalities (per M inh.) in the studied countries. Source: Climate-Risk Index (CRI) Report [30].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Ranked Legatum Prosperity Health Index (LPHI) vs. the ranked fatalities per million inhabitants (M inh.) in the studied countries.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Poverty (%) vs. Fat. Per M inh.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Classed ranked Adaptability (CRA) vs. Ranked fatalities (RF).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Classed relative risk to extreme weather events of the studied countries (estimated by the authors from the classed ranked Vulnerability and Adaptability).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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