Over 100 million people living in the world will fall into extreme poverty by 2030 if urgent steps are not taken to check the devastating effects of climate change, the World Bank has said.
In a report titled ‘Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty,’ which was released in Washington on Tuesday, the bank said out of the number under the threat of extreme poverty, 43 million people were in Nigeria and other neighbouring countries.
The report said, “Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the region most vulnerable to climate change. Without climate-informed development, 43 million more people – most of them in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Angola and Uganda – could fall into extreme poverty by 2030, largely as a result of lower crop yields and higher food prices, and the health impacts of climate change.
“The poorest people are more exposed than the average population to climate-related shocks such as floods, droughts, and heat waves, and they lose much more of their wealth when they are hit.
“In the 52 countries where data was available, 85 per cent of the population live in countries where poor people are more exposed to drought than the average. Poor people are also more exposed to higher temperatures and live in countries where food production is expected to decrease because of climate change.”
The report said climate change was already preventing people from escaping poverty, and without rapid, inclusive and climate-smart development, together with emissions-reductions efforts that protect the poor; there could be more than 100 million additional people in poverty by 2030.
No comments:
Post a Comment