Global impact on society - UK Government

source: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/fightingpoverty/climate_key.asp

Climate and environment - Ensuring the environment is managed in a way that helps to reduce poverty.

The document from the UK Department for International Development takes a global view of the impact of climate change on communities around the world. It cites 2 sources of information: the Stern Report and UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

The DfID document says...

• Sea levels are rising at a rapid rate (having risen by 20cm over the 20th century); in Asia, the homes of 94 million people could be flooded by the end of the century, leading to large-scale migration.

• The area of the world stricken by drought has doubled between 1970 and the early 2000s. In Africa fertile land is already turning to desert. By 2020, climate change is predicted to reduce some African farming harvests by 50%

• Storm surges in coastal areas are a threat to the economies of low-lying countries like Egypt and Thailand, where many factories and offices are less than a metre above sea-level.

• Natural disasters can set back a country’s economy by years. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch hit more than 25% of households in Honduras and led to a 7% drop in agricultural output. The number of people living in poverty in Honduras is now growing.

• Climate change brings the risk of increases in serious diseases such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever and polio. Longer rainy seasons have already led to increased malaria in parts of Rwanda and Tanzania.

• Temperatures in 2100 could be 1.4 to 5.8° higher than in 1990 if emissions aren’t curbed now.

• A temperature rise of 2 to 3.5° in India would reduce farmers’ incomes by between 9 and 25%.

• By 2025 two-thirds of the earth’s population will suffer water shortages.

• The costs of ignoring climate change have been estimated at more than that of the two world wars and the Great Depression (5 to 20% of GDP) (Stern Report).

• The cost of tackling the problem, however, could be around 1% of global GDP if mitigation policies are well-designed (Stern Report). Recent figures from the UNFCCC put the costs of adaptation for developing countries at between $28 to $67 billion in 2030.