A new study by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reveals that tens of millions of people living in low-elevation coastal areas in Latin America and the Caribbean are facing severe threats from extreme weather events. These events jeopardize their lives, livelihoods, and the healthcare services they rely on.
Using satellite imagery, geospatial data, and population estimates, UNFPA identified coastal communities most exposed to hazards like hurricanes and storms, which are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. The aftermath of these extreme weather events often leads to widespread flooding, destroying homes and businesses and disrupting essential services, including healthcare. Women and girls are particularly affected, often being displaced from their communities and safe spaces, and unable to access family planning services, safe birthing, or protection from gender-based violence.
UNFPA’s data analysis estimates that 41 million people, or six percent of the population in the Latin America and Caribbean region, live in coastal areas exposed to life-threatening storms and flooding. The analysis also indicates that 1,448 hospitals vital to maternal health and family planning are located in low-elevation coastal areas prone to natural hazards:
– In Aruba, the Cayman Islands, Suriname, the Bahamas, and Guyana, over 80 percent of hospitals are in low-lying coastal areas.
– In other parts of the Caribbean and Latin America, countries with the highest number of hospitals in low-lying coastal areas include Brazil with 519 facilities (7.2 percent), Mexico with 159 facilities (5.4 percent), Haiti with 133 facilities (10 percent), and Ecuador with 130 facilities (11.9 percent).
“Climate change impacts women and girls the hardest and exacerbates existing inequalities. Millions of poor and vulnerable women and girls, who are the least responsible for the climate crisis, pay a heavy price when climate-related disasters strike and disrupt essential health and protection services as well as livelihoods,” said UNFPA Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem.
UNFPA is presenting this data at the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conference in Antigua and Barbuda. The organization is calling for greater investment and technical help to improve data collection on the impact of the climate crisis on women and girls and to support vulnerable countries in building climate-resilient health systems. “We need scaled-up and targeted investments that safeguard their rights and strengthen their ability to adapt,” said Dr Kanem.
The SIDS conference coincides with the start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects to be “extraordinary.” The climate crisis poses an existential threat to these small island states. In several of them, including the Bahamas, Suriname, and Guyana, over 80 percent of the population lives in low-elevation coastal areas, which are up to 10 meters above sea level.
UNFPA is using its population data, satellite imagery, and geospatial data to provide humanitarian response teams with crucial information about vulnerable communities. This approach was previously used in Honduras after Hurricane Iota in 2020. UNFPA’s population modelling has also identified populations at high risk due to river flooding near the Panama-Costa Rica border and mapped population exposure in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to volcanic eruptions.