Climate crisis threatens 41 million across Caribbean and Latin America: UN
Al Jazeera
Nearly 1,450 hospitals across region are also in low-lying coastal areas vulnerable to extreme weather, UN report finds.
Tens of millions of people living in coastal areas of the Caribbean and Latin America face “life-threatening” weather events made worse by the climate crisis, the United Nations said in a new report.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report on Tuesday found that 41 million people – about 6 percent of the population across the region – are exposed to threatening storms and flooding.
Nearly 1,450 hospitals vital to maternal health and family planning across the region also are located in low-elevation coastal areas that are more prone to natural hazards, the UNFPA said.
More than 80 percent of the hospitals in Aruba and Cayman Islands, Suriname, Bahamas and Guyana are in such areas, the report found.
“Climate change impacts women and girls the hardest and exacerbates existing inequalities,” Dr Natalia Kanem, the UNFPA’s executive director, said in a statement.
