A Guna Indigenous man prepares his boat on the island of Carti Sugdupu, in the Indigenous Guna Yala Comarca, Panama, in the Caribbean Sea, on Aug. 30, 2023.About 41 million people living in low-lying regions of Latin America and the Caribbean are threatened by storms and flooding that are becoming more extreme because of climate change, according to newly released data from a United Nations agency.
The UNFPA is the UN agency dedicated to sexual and reproductive health. UNFPA released the study in conjunction with the Small Island Developing States conference taking place this week in Antigua and Barbuda. Sabrina Juran, UNFPA’s regional adviser on population and development for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that the agency will work next to identify specific vulnerabilities, such as assessing structural durability of hospitals to see how they would fare in a hurricane.
She said the study focused on understanding how many people and health care facilities are at risk, and that UNFPA research into government preparedness must follow. She said improvements made to female health over the past few decades could be reversed if the global community doesn’t take the threat seriously.
The Canadian government has committed $5.3-billion from 2021 to 2026 toward international climate protection measures for developing countries, such as the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative.