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Climate change and poverty

The poorest people and the poorest countries are being hit hardest by climate change. Yet they bear least responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions.

The 2009 Human Impact Report claims that 300,000 people a year are already dying from the effects of climate change – and a further four billion are vulnerable to effects such as:

Women from Manniega village collect water from the Kioga river by scooping it out of a 5 foot deep hole in the dry river bed.

  • drought and water shortages
  • floods and other extreme weather
  • crop failures and food insecurity
  • reduced agricultural productivity
  • loss of low-lying lands and islands
  • desertification (the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert)
  • loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • spread of diseases, such as malaria

Many of these expected impacts of climate change will affect people already living in the most vulnerable situations.

Climate change threatens to undermine, and even reverse, the progress we’ve made to reduce poverty and promote development.

Why climate change threatens development
Many poor people live in regions that are susceptible to changes in the climate, for example drought-prone sub-Saharan Africa, or in marginal areas such as floodplains or unstable hillsides.

Roots are collected for food in drought stricken Madagascar

Poor people also tend to rely heavily on activities such as agriculture, fishing and collecting natural resources, which are sensitive to climate change.

Poor people have the least capacity and fewest choices available to be able to cope with climate change-related shocks, such as changing weather patterns and increased natural disasters.

All these factors mean that poor communities are the most exposed to the impacts of climate change and have the least resilience to them. To reduce the impacts on the poor we have to adapt to some changes and continue to work globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Natural resources are important in both situations.

Distributing stoves

What WWF is doing
We work with local communities to ensure ecosystems are managed sustainably – this can make them more resilient to climate change impacts.

At a national level, we work to ensure that when governments develop national plans and policies they include good management of resources.

We also influence the way governments in both emerging and developed economies approach economic growth, advocating development that is sustainable, low-carbon and pro-poor.

Local man at his family burial site, now submerged in water, Navua, Fiji