Climate Change Could Force 100 Million More Into Poverty

In another tweet McKenna said “At home, we will provide national leadership and work with our provinces and territories to take real action on climate change”.

Such shocks could wipe out hard-won gains, leading to irreversible losses, driving people back into poverty, particularly in Africa and South Asia, it said.

He described ending poverty and tackling climate change as “the defining issues of our generation”.

Although the sea level rise to realize these threats likely will unfold over hundreds of years, carbon emissions this century can lock in one path or another, the report says.

Climate Central says global warming has caused global sea levels to rise 8 inches since 1880, and the rate is accelerating.

Already 702 million people, or 9.6% of the world’s population, are in extreme poverty, per the Guardian.

The report details how the absence of rapid and inclusive climate smart development along with crucial emissions reductions efforts that can protect the poor, will result to an additional 100 million people who will be in poverty by the year 2030.

“Poor people and poor countries are exposed and vulnerable to all types of climate-related shocks-natural disasters that destroy assets and livelihoods; waterborne diseases and pests that become more prevalent during heat waves, floods, or droughts; crop failure from reduced rainfall; and spikes in food prices that follow extreme weather events”, it reads.

A few 45 million people in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin will be displaced as the cities slip under the waves when global temperatures rise 4 degrees Celsius if nothing is done to curb climate change, according to a study released on Monday.

Better social safety nets and health coverage for all, together with targeted improvements such as flood defences, early warning systems and hardier crops, could prevent or offset most of the negative effects of climate change on poverty in the next 15 years, the report said.

The United Nations has for two decades hosted climate change negotiations in an attempt to reach an worldwide plan to cut carbon emissions and to shift to renewable energy sources.

That panel’s report analyzed how global warming might impact food supplies over time. “And we will need to act fast because as climate impacts increase so will the difficulty and cost of trying to eradicate poverty”.

To get over this problem, the Met Office use an average of the temperatures recorded between 1850 and 1900, which they argue makes their analysis more accurate. Another posits that the savings from the elimination of fossil fuels could be reinvested into developing countries.

In poor countries, support from the global community will be essential to accomplish many of these measures, according to the report.