2003 Weather-Related Disasters Cost $60 Bln

Delegates attending the current meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Milan heard a report, prepared by Munich Re, estimating that the cost of natural disasters, most of which were weather-related catastrophes, was over $60 billion in 2003 up from around $55 billion the year before. Approximately $15 billion of those were insured losses. The UNEP stressed that the high economic losses are part of a worrying trend that is being linked with climate change. It called on "governments, business and industry to back emerging emissions trading markets as one way of tackling the crisis." The findings are likely to increase the rancor involved in the debate over climate change between the U.S. and the rest of the world.