Climate change and disease threaten millions, UN warns

Flooded Salabani Secondary school in Baringo south caused by the rising water of Lake Baringo on October 7,2020. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

A jump in climate-related disasters this century, along with the global coronavirus pandemic, show political and business leaders are failing to stop the planet turning into “an uninhabitable hell” for millions, the United Nations said on Monday.

The last two decades saw the number of disasters caused by extreme weather nearly double to 6,681, up from 3,656 between 1980 and 1999, according to a report issued ahead of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13.