Neelam Rahim – neelam@radioislam.co.za

4 min read – 20:40 CAT

Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Global Dialogue, Sanusha Naidu, highlighted climate change’s adverse effects on this week’s Asia Pacific report with Radio Islam International. 

The richest ranking of people in the world was released earlier this week, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is dethroned as the world’s second richest person by India’s Gautam Adani. 

Gautam Adani’s worth is around $156.5 billion, which makes him the wealthiest man in the world.

While this is very important for India to look at as they have been contributing to the global wealth index in terms of the relationship that people like Mr Adani have concerning the economy in India and globally, Sanusha said these rankings need to be looked at in the context of how the world has moved very unequally. 

Meanwhile, Tonga’s home reef volcano has erupted eight times in two days. 

The Island of Tonga is on a forth line and is one of the Islands that remain vulnerable in terms of what is happening to climate change. 

According to Sanusha, there has been clear evidence in the Pacific that climate change had taken on more considerable proportions and a much more adverse set of effects. 

She stated that the meteorologist and environmental activist concerns include that these Islands are very prone to the kinds of tsunamis seen in the past. And also regarding the impact it will have on the sea bed and the ripple effects it creates across the Pacific Ocean. 

The challenge for many of the smaller Islands in the Pacific is that they do not have the resources to deal with the kinds of mitigation strategies to adapt and adopt for climate change. 

Following this, at least two were killed, and 260 thousand were left without power after typhoon Nanmadol battered Japan. 

Japan is one of the other countries vulnerable to the forth line of natural disasters. 

Sanusha said the problem in Japan is that they have always been at the receiving end. 

Adding, “They’re sitting in the same kind of predicament as Tonga but if not more of what the impact of this means for a country that is also going through economic stresses.”

What is seen in the Asia Pacific, particularly the indoor Pacific, is the challenges in terms of not crisis that is man-made but also a crisis born out of climatic changes.

Listen below to the Asia Pacific Report with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat and Sanusha Naidu on Radio Islam’s podcast.