Geneva/Bonn, Germany (dpa) - The impact of man on the environment was a
key factor in turning extreme weather events into greater natural
disasters, a new report published Tuesday by the worldwide conservation
group WWF found.

"It is deforestation and floodplain development that most often
links high rainfall to devastating floods and mudslides," said Liza
Higgins-Zogib of the WWF's Protected Areas Initiative.

"Extreme coastal events cause much more loss of life and damage
when reefs are damaged, mangroves are removed, dune systems are
developed and coastal forests are cleared," she said.

The report Natural Security: Protected Areas and Hazard Mitigation,
studied floods including cases in Bangladesh in 2000 and Europe in
2006, heat waves and forest fires in Portugal in 2003, an earthquake in
Pakistan in 2005 and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami as well as Hurricane
Katrina in the United States in 2005.

According to a World Bank report, in the last 50 years the severity
of impacts from natural disasters had increased, due partly to the loss
of healthy ecosystems in the regions affected.

The impact of tsunamis, for example, in the Indian Ocean varied
from country to country, according to the extent of reef protection and
remaining mangrove coverage, the report said.

The loss of floodplains in the Danube and tributaries had contributed to more frequent and regular floods.

The report was due to be published during the ongoing meeting of
the Committee of Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity in Bonn,
Germany.

"While large-scale disasters cannot be entirely avoided, the report
identifies specific ways we can mitigate the devastating impact of
disasters through better ecosystem management," said Jonathan Randall
of WWF and co-author of Natural Security.

In one successful example, a 1.1-million-dollar investment in
mangrove replanting and other measures had saved Vietnamese communities
an estimated 7.3 million dollars a year in seawall maintenance.

WWF called on governments to create suitable protected areas and to
maintain natural ecosystems that might buffer against natural hazards.
(dpa)