Beyond 2030, the world’s ability to adapt to unabated climate change will be limited, warned the report, released ahead of the United Nations climate summit from November 30th to December 11th, in Paris, where a new deal to curb global warming is due to be agreed.
Advertisement
It says such shocks could wipe out hard-won gains, leading to irreversible losses, driving people back into poverty, particularly in South Asia and Africa.
According to the WB, the number of people living on less than 1.90 Dollars a day will be over 700 million by the end of this year, which means more than 7.5 percent of the global population.
The impact of climate change seems more adverse on Pakistan and sub Saharan Africa, as this percentage shoots down to just 4% in the case of most other countries, shows the report.
Christiana Figueres, head of the United Nation’s Climate Change Secretariat told the news conference that the ministers maintained that it was entirely possible to reach an agreement despite the complexities and challenges.
At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization reported that the level of climate-altering gases in the air punched through the psychological barrier of 400 parts per million.
Already, global warming is sparking higher agricultural prices; increasing “natural hazards” such as heat waves, droughts and floods; and exacerbating public health issues, the report states.
A new report from the World Bank highlights the acute threat that climate change poses to the poorer segment of society around the globe.
The Bank said that poor households on Earth are the most vulnerable to the problems triggered by climate change – from higher food prices to malnutrition and destruction of infrastructure.
The report also calls for “an all-out push” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but in a way that “does not burden the poor”.
“Such mitigation efforts should be created to ensure that they do not burden the poor”, the report noted. Another posits that the savings from the elimination of fossil fuels could be reinvested into developing countries.
The obligations and efforts to help poor nations, and poor communities within nations, are expected to be a major topic of conversation in Paris.
“The statistics in the World Bank report are suitably shocking and I hope they force world leaders to sit up and take notice”, said Mohamed Adow of Christian Aid. “And between now and 2030, good, climate-informed development gives us the best chance we have of warding off increases in poverty due to climate change”.
Advertisement
However, the report indicates that “these same policies can be created to protect, and even benefit, poor people – for instance, by using fiscal resources from environmental taxes to improve social protection”.
