The global impact of climate change can force more than 100 million into living under the poverty line by 2030, a new report by the World Bank revealed. Experts explained that climate change threatens the goal of effectively eliminating poverty.
Entitled Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty, the report called for stricter and tougher measures against climate change, days before the 21st Conference of the Parties or COP-21.
"We will need to act fast because as climate impacts increase, so will the difficulty and cost of eradicating poverty," said World Bank senior director for climate change John Roome. The institution released [pdf] their report on Nov.15.
The report discovered that the people who are among the poorest are most exposed to climate-related disasters such as heat waves, flooding, and droughts. These people lose what little wealth they have and their belongings when these disasters hit the areas they reside in.
Researchers said that in Africa, the effects of climate change could cause the prices of food to increase to as high as 12 percent in 2030 and 70 percent by 2080. This estimation is a devastating blow to those nations where food consumption of the poorest households accounts to more than 60 percent of total spending. Conditions in areas in South Asia will also get worse, they said.
Devastating spikes in the number of diarrhea and malaria cases, and even stunted growth, could be the next pressure point, the report said.
The report suggested that money saved from the elimination of fossil fuel could be reused in assistance programs that will help the poor. Rich nations are supposed to give contribution to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a multilateral fund that aims to help developing countries fight climate change, but experts say the issue is stuck around the nature of beneficiaries and contributions.
The World Bank warned that without immediate adoption of adaptation, mitigation and emission-reduction policies, rising levels of temperature and greenhouse gases will continue to devastate vulnerable populations, dragging them further into extreme poverty.
Meanwhile, at the COP-21 in Paris in December, developing countries will open their appeals for support and commitment from first world countries to eradicate poverty caused by climate change.
Photo: Ray Tsang | Flickr
