Climate change is getting more severe and intense with each passing year, and it is set to be the norm in the future if the necessary action is not taken, professor Tim Smith said on Tuesday while speaking at WION’s Climate Summit.
Speaking at the event in New Delhi, Smith, professor, Sustainability Research Centre, Australia’s University of the Sunshine Coast, reminded the world about Australia, which has been facing the vagaries of climate.
“In 2010, Australia had flooding issues in Queensland. The property damage bill was US $1.5 billion dollars. In 2019, we had bushfires and the claims for the bushfire was US $2.5 billion. And just a few weeks ago, we had incredibly significant flooding again, and the claims for that will far eclipse the two previous events,” he said.
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“So, the climate change impact is getting more intense and severe. These extreme events are going to become ordinary events. So, it is really about exploring the cost of inaction,” he added.
Highlighting the problem of funding climate change, Smith noted that while the North (developed countries) had the wherewithal to mitigate the effects of global warming, the South (developing countries) lacked resources, while weighing on the debate of “who should pay”.
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“The North needs to recognise that it has the resources to adapt to these things that give them the room to be able to mitigate because of decades of climate destruction. So, we need to be transparent about that as well. The global South has a range of other challenges” he said.
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