Bali Island, Indonesia - Asia was the region worst affected by climate change in 2006, accounting for seven of the 10 worst-impacted nations, a German environmental group said Tuesday. The Philippines, North Korea and Indonesia were the hardest-hit countries last year, according to Germanwatch's Global Climate Risk Index, which measures the impacts of weather-related disasters.
Storms and flooding in the Philippines and Indonesia claimed the lives of nearly 1,300 people and caused damage into the billions of dollars, said Sven Harmeling, the author of the report.
The countries rounding out the top 10 were Vietnam at number four, followed by Ethiopia, India, China, Afghanistan, the United States and Romania in an index that measured weather-related losses related to a country's gross domestic product and deaths in relation to its population.
The non-governmental organization compiled its report from analyses by the Munich Reinsurance Co, the world's second-largest reinsurance firm, and released it at a UN climate conference on Bali.
Since 1980, the number of weather-related disasters has doubled, said Peter Hoeppe with Munich Reinsurance's Geo-Risks Research Department.
In the same period, the frequency of flooding and other weather extremes, such as heat waves and droughts, have risen fourfold, he said.
"This clearly shows an increasing danger," he said, adding that industrialized countries, as the primary producers of the greenhouse gases, which cause global warming, bear responsibility for helping the affected nations.
Harmeling said it showed the need for the world's climate policy to limit disaster risks and help the nations most impacted to adapt to global warming.
Germanwatch's 2006 list represented a substantial change from the year before when many Central American countries were in the top 10, and Guatemala ranked first as the region was swept by hurricanes.
Central America accounted for the top two spots in the list of countries that have seen the worst effects of global warming over the past decade. Honduras and Nicaragua were followed by Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Venezuela, France and Germany, Germanwatch said.
It said poor countries suffer far deeper impacts from climate change than industrialized countries but added, "Most of the world's regions should prepare for increasing risks from extreme weather events."
The report was released at a conference where government delegates, scientists and environmentalists from nearly 190 countries gathered in Nusa Dua for two weeks of meetings that are to end Friday. Their goal is to lay the groundwork for a new international initiative to combat climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
