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Adapting to Climate Change in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
FIGURE 1.6
Impact of Natural Disasters in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 1990–2008 Albania Tajikistan Moldova Macedonia, FYR Lithuania Azerbaijan Georgia Bosnia and Herzegovina Armenia Ukraine Russian Federation Kazakhstan Czech Republic Uzbekistan Turkey Slovak Republic Serbia Romania Kyrgyz Republic Hungary 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
number of people affected by natural disaster (per 1,000 people) economic losses resulting from natural disaster (per US$1,000,000 of GDP) Source: EM-DAT 2008.
From Vulnerability to Action: Tackling the Challenge of Adaptation Awareness and concern about climate change are relatively low in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Only about 50 percent of those interviewed in the 7 ECA countries included in a recent Global Attitude Survey of 48 countries consider climate change to be a serious problem—lower than the 59 percent average across the full sample of 48 countries (figure 1.7). Part of this problem stems from the often confusing or misleading way in which climate change is communicated to the public. Journalists tend to want to present a “balanced” story, which has resulted in the media granting equal weight to climate scientists and to commentators who often lack academic credentials.10 Scientists fault this traditional application of balance in reporting science, arguing that