海角大神

A week after twin storms pounded Mexico's Pacific and Gulf coasts, questions are swirling as to how the floods, landslides and overall devastation from the rains could have been prevented.

Many point to聽the need for聽better advance planning: flood prevention, building-code enforcement, and political capital to plan for the long term, among other measures that may have helped curb the damage and minimize the still-climbing death toll.

"It's not surprising. We develop in unbuildable areas. We build with garbage and we design without planning," Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez, a law professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico, wrote in the Mexican daily Reforma.

鈥淧revention [in Mexico] is moving things to the second floor so they don鈥檛 get flooded out,鈥� says Gerardo Priego, previously a gubernatorial candidate in Tabasco for the right-leaning National Action Party.

Mexican President Enrique Pe帽a Nieto announced this week that the death toll from聽tropical storm Ingrid and hurricane Manuel had reached about 115 people. The Interior Ministry said Monday that that number could climb as high as 200 deaths, and 1.5 million homes have been damaged to some extent, reports Agence France-Presse. The government estimates 29 of Mexico鈥檚 31 states have experienced some form of damage 鈥� including landslides and floods 鈥� due to the hurricane double whammy, Reuters reports.

This was some of the worst rains Mexico experienced in decades.

But prevention shouldn鈥檛 be limited to urban planning and flood insurance, according to an initiative launched Tuesday by seven countries on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and chaired by former Mexican President Felipe Calder贸n.

The New Climate Economy, part of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, aims to address how to link economic incentives with environmental responsibility and climate change prevention, in hopes of addressing some of the devastating effects of climate change worldwide.

鈥淢ost of the time you hear consequences of climate change in the future,鈥� Mr. Calder贸n told 海角大神. He cited economic tools like discount rates that play into how much is invested in environmental policy today, but may not have a payoff for a century.

鈥淲e are already paying very high costs due to the consequences of climate change,鈥� Calder贸n says, referring to investment during his time in office, from 2006 to 2012, and the costs of Ingrid and Manuel in Mexico today. He says climate change is a phenomenon 鈥渨ithout borders.鈥�

鈥淏ut the point is we are paying [the] consequences 鈥� from our own lack of actions,鈥� says Calder贸n, who passed Mexico's first climate change law before leaving office. Natural disasters often hurt the poor disproportionately, exacerbating inequality and creating greater challenges for growing economies, he says.

A median聽65 percent of Latin Americans聽see climate change as a major threat to their country, according to the Pew Research Center. That compares to a median 54 percent in countries worldwide and 40 percent who see climate change as a big threat in the United States.聽

In a written statement introducing The New Climate Economy, Calder贸n and Nicholas Stern, who is co-chairman of the commission and a professor of economics at the London School of Economics, wrote:

Next September, the $9 million study will be released with recommendations to government, business, and financial leaders worldwide on how to work toward achieving economic growth and development with an eye toward climate change prevention and lower-carbon output. The research will be conducted by research institutes on five continents.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is one of the seven world leaders behind the commission, along with high-level representatives from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Korea, Norway, Sweden, and Britain. 鈥淥ur commitment stems from two facts. One, we have been experiencing devastating climate change-driven impacts,鈥� Mr. Santos said at the project launch.

鈥淎nd two, we are fully aware that our efforts in poverty eradication and development will be shortlived unless we tackle the climate change challenge,鈥� Santos said.

Estimates of the financial costs of Mexico鈥檚 rains and flooding this month are just starting to be calculated, with the Mexican Congress announcing this week that it would need to recast its 2014 budget due to postdisaster recovery costs, Reuters reports.

In the meantime, Mexico continues to focus on the present: the 800,000 who reported power loss across the country, the estimated 59,000 evacuated from their homes, the 72 damaged roads and transportation arteries, and the scores of people still missing.聽