Angola and Guinea-Bissau are among the countries in the world with the highest risk of ecological shocks, according to the Ecological Threats Report, released this Wednesday by the Institute of Economy and Peace.
According to the study, which analyzes 228 countries and territories, Angola (10th) and Guinea-Bissau (16th) are threatened mainly by the risk of food shortages, rapid population growth and water scarcity.
The institute, based in Australia, highlights that Angola will be one of the countries in the world where the risk of water scarcity increases the most until 2040 and whose population is expected to grow by 132% until 2050, the second fastest growth after Niger. .
Mozambique is also identified by the “Ecological Threats Report” (ETR) as a country at risk of food shortages, having recorded the fourth largest increase in the global level of food insecurity.
The authors of the third edition of the Report conclude that there is a “cyclical relationship between ecological degradation and conflicts” such as civil war and terrorism, using Mozambique as an example.
Inhambane, in southern Mozambique, is also identified as one of eight world regions (all located in sub-Saharan Africa) most at risk of “catastrophic” ecological impacts.
As for Brazil, the institute recalled that it was the 12th country with the highest number of natural disasters since 1981, pointing out the metropolises of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro as the places of greatest risk.
The report singles out Portugal as one of several European countries expected to experience the largest increase in water scarcity risk by 2040, along with Greece, Italy and the Netherlands.
The ETR underlined that there are currently more than 1.4 billion people in 83 countries already at extreme risk of water scarcity.
Burundi has the highest overall score in the report, reflecting the country’s vulnerability, followed by the Central African Republic, Chad, Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq and Syria.
The institute has estimated that the number of undernourished people in the world has increased by 35% in 2021 to more than 750 million and is expected to continue to rise due to the impact of ecological degradation.
At least 41 countries are currently facing “severe food insecurity”, something that is expected to worsen due to “increasing ecological degradation, inflation and the war between Russia and Ukraine”, the ETR said.
IEP CEO and founder Steve Killelea said ahead of the COP27 summit in Egypt in November, countries must seek “systemic solutions” to address the effects of climate change, investing in “building long-term resilience,” with development programs that focus on “microenterprises that capture water and improve value-added agriculture and manufacturing.”
Source: TSF
