Super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), which battered the Philippines on Nov 8 and took more than 4,000 lives as well as destroy billions of dollars worth of properties, is the best argument being cited at the ongoing UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland.

The damage caused by Haiyan could be cited by the G77 and China which has been pushing the U.S. and other major polluter nations for higher payments to poorer nations that suffer disasters due to climate change.

The Category 5 Hurricane-equivalent is seen as part of a long-term trend of more damage being caused by extreme weather events around the globe.

The emphasis on the extensive damage caused by Yolanda was provided by Naderev Sano, Philippine negotiator, who got a standing ovation when he shared at the start of the 11-day meet how his father's home town of Tacloban was severely damaged by Haiyan, while some of his relatives died.

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To add drama to his story, Mr Sano is on a water-only fast during the entire 11-day meet as a sign of his solidarity with his suffering countrymen and to pressure fellow negotiators to come up with an agreement to avert mass tragedies in the future.

The U.S. has actually provided $6 billion to developing nations in climate finance in the past 24 months and has committed to further hike spending.

But the major polluting nations could cite findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in October which found that tropical cyclones have not gained intensity or became more frequent and the strongest storms have actually became weaker in recent decades. But that was before Haiyan.

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