Climate risk in Latin America and the Caribbean

Caribbean islands are usually the territories most affected by extreme climate events in the Americas. According to the Climate Risk Index (CRI), the Bahamas suffered the highest risk of extreme climate events in 2019, with a score of 6.5, mainly due to Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane. Among continental states in Latin America and the Caribbean, Bolivia had the highest risk in 2019, with 19.67 points. Mozambique was the most affected country by extreme weather worldwide in 2019.

Which South American countries are most prone to extreme weather?

In the Southern Cone, also Paraguay, Chile, and Brazil were the most vulnerable countries to extreme weather in 2019, with a risk index of at least 30 points. These countries are usually affected by extreme rainfall and flooding causing landslides, as well as droughts, frequently intensified by the climate phenomena known as "El Niño" and "La Niña".

What made Bolivia a very vulnerable country to extreme environmental events in 2019?

Bolivia is one of the South American countries most affected by wildfires. In 2019, over 44,000 forest fires were identified on Bolivian territory, which made it the year with the worst forest fire occurrences since 2010. Bolivia is one of the nine countries where the Amazon rainforest is located. The Andean state also registered heavy rainfall and flooding during 2019.

Countries most affected by extreme climate events in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019, based on Climate Risk Index

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Release date

January 2021

More information

Region

LAC

Survey time period

2019

Special properties

the lower the score, the higher the risk

Supplementary notes

The Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) analyses quantified impacts of extreme weather events – both in terms of fatalities as well as economic losses that occurred. The CRI examines both absolute and relative impacts to create an average ranking of countries in four indicating categories:
1. Number of deaths
2. Number of deaths per 100 000 inhabitants
3. Sum of losses in US$ in purchasing power parity (PPP)
4. Losses per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Each country's index score has been derived from a country's average ranking in all four indicating categories. The lowest the CRI score, the more affected is the country.

According to the source: "The index must not be mistaken for a comprehensive climate vulnerability scoring. It represents one important piece in the overall puzzle of climate-related impacts and the associated vulnerabilities. The index focuses on extreme weather events such as storms, floods and heatwaves but does not take into account important slow-onset processes such as rising sea levels, glacier melting or ocean warming and acidification."

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