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Poverty and Climate Change
The human and environmental
cost
Between 1980 and 2004:
o The number of
victims of weather disasters in
developing countries more than tripled, to 257
million a year.
o
The incidence of floods and cyclones — which
disproportionately affect poor nations —
quadrupled.
The financial cost
o Rich
countries' greenhouse emissions will
cost poor ones more than $2.3 trillion in
damages over the next century.
o This
is half a trillion dollars more than their
current external debt.
Bolivia
• In January 2008, catastrophic floods hit Bolivia's
Amazonian lowlands for a second straight year,
rendering much of Trinidad, a city of around
95,000, essentially uninhabitable.
• Flooding and severe rainstorms (which, due to
climate change, are now commonplace) have
displaced nearly 50,000 people in Bolivia, one of
South America's poorest countries.
A man outside flooded home in
Bolivia
Where do climate refugees
go?
• Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, is disappearing
due to rising sea levels.
• Around one-fifth of the 12,000-some inhabitants
have already left, most bound for New Zealand,
where the Tuvaluan community has nearly tripled
since 1996.
The meaning of being a
refugee
The Tuvaluan migrants, many of whom had to
come to New Zealand illegally, face many new
problems:
• unemployment
• low wages
• rising debt
• young children with no place to go while their
parents struggle to work.
A Tuvaluan Refugee in New
Zealand
For every flood, there is a
drought
• In the Sahel region of West Africa, nearly half of
the population survives on subsistence
farming.
• Rainfall there is projected to decline
severely. Overall, the number of Africans
facing water shortages is expected to double by
2050.
Disappearing Lake Chad
Lake Chad, a formerly large lake in the Sahel region,
has shrunk by 90% since 1963:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXW29zsr6xg
What happens when a lake
disappears?
The region around Lake Chad has experienced:
• A 60% decline in fish production
• Shortages of pasturelands and healthy
livestock
• decreasing
biodiversity
• conflicts over limited
water
• emigration due to residents' inability to make a
living, feed themselves, or find water
The true meaning of environmental
justice
• All people have a right to a safe and secure home,
and to a steady supply of food and water
• However, due to poverty and climate change,
many people lack these necessities
• Climate change and poverty are directly linked when we fight climate change, we fight poverty and
disaster
Your choices can affect millions of
people around the world
Learn what you can do to lower your
carbon footprint today
Bibliography
1. http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/tuvalu-climaterefugees: What Happens When Your Country Drowns?
2. http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/11/bolivia-payingrain: Cash for Thunder: Bolivia Demands "Reparations"
3. desertification.wordpress.com/.../shrinking-lake-chad-couldtrigger- humanitarian-disaster-unnews/