The latest study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts devastating impacts for the world’s poorest communities. The report by 2,500 of the world’s top climate scientists paints a bleak picture of drought, disease, floods, storms, sea level rise and crop failure.
Barren land in Malawi: Climate change hits the poorest hardest.
The IPCC chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, said in launching the report: 'The poorest of the poor in the world - and this includes poor people in prosperous societies - are going to be the worst hit. People who are poor are least able to adapt to climate change.'
The report highlights changes that are already taking place and makes some dire predictions for the future. Here are just a few:
- By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climate change.
- In some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 20 per cent by 2020.
- In Asia, Himalayan glaciers will melt, leading to flooding followed by water shortages as the glaciers vanish forever.
- Asian coastal areas will face increased flooding and potentially big increases in death due diarrhoeal disease.
- By 2050 crop yields in central and south Asia may decrease by 30 per cent.
- Latin America faces shortages of water for drinking, agriculture and energy generation because of changing rainfall and melting glaciers.
- Parts of the Amazon rainforest may turn to semi-arid savannah.
- Up to 30 per cent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global temperature exceed 1.5-2.5C.
The report is the second part of the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report. It was published on 6 April 2007 after a night of wrangling in which key text was removed from the draft following pressure by countries including the US, China and Saudi Arabia.
You can read a more detailed summary of the report here.