Global Warming Expected to Kill Millions of Poor People This Century
Monday May 15, 2006
Millions of the world’s poorest people will die from the effects of global warming in this century unless developed nations reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report by Christian Aid, a UK-based charity.
According to the report, 182 million people in sub-Saharan African alone could die of disease by 2100, and global warming could reduce crop yields in Africa by 10 percent. Malaria already kills 3 million people every year—2.7 million of them in Africa, and most of those children under age 5—but global warming is spreading malaria by creating a more hospitable environment for mosquitoes that carry the disease.
But Christian Aid does more than report dire predictions and bad news. The charity calls for greater use of renewable energy in both developed and developing nations. According to the report, every household in Africa could switch to renewable energy for less money than it would take to buy oil for the continent over the next 10 years, and enable Africa to produce enough energy from sun, wind and water to become an exporter of clean energy.
Unless changes are made soon, however, the report concludes that global warming threatens development goals of billions of poor people worldwide because of floods, drought and the violence that will result as people begin to fight over increasingly scarce resources.
"This report exposes clearly and starkly the devastating impact that human induced climate change will have on many of the world's poorest people," said Sir John Houghton, former co-chairman of the scientific assessment working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"That realization exposes an inescapable moral imperative for those of us in the developed world, who have benefited so much from cheap energy from fossil fuels. We need to respond with urgent and determined action."
More information:
The climate of poverty: facts fears and hope (Christian Aid report)
West's failure over climate change 'will kill 182m Africans' (London Independent)
Climate Change Threatens Development of Billions of World's Poorest People, Charity Says (Associated Press/Environmental News Network)
According to the report, 182 million people in sub-Saharan African alone could die of disease by 2100, and global warming could reduce crop yields in Africa by 10 percent. Malaria already kills 3 million people every year—2.7 million of them in Africa, and most of those children under age 5—but global warming is spreading malaria by creating a more hospitable environment for mosquitoes that carry the disease.
But Christian Aid does more than report dire predictions and bad news. The charity calls for greater use of renewable energy in both developed and developing nations. According to the report, every household in Africa could switch to renewable energy for less money than it would take to buy oil for the continent over the next 10 years, and enable Africa to produce enough energy from sun, wind and water to become an exporter of clean energy.
Unless changes are made soon, however, the report concludes that global warming threatens development goals of billions of poor people worldwide because of floods, drought and the violence that will result as people begin to fight over increasingly scarce resources.
"This report exposes clearly and starkly the devastating impact that human induced climate change will have on many of the world's poorest people," said Sir John Houghton, former co-chairman of the scientific assessment working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"That realization exposes an inescapable moral imperative for those of us in the developed world, who have benefited so much from cheap energy from fossil fuels. We need to respond with urgent and determined action."
More information:
The climate of poverty: facts fears and hope (Christian Aid report)
West's failure over climate change 'will kill 182m Africans' (London Independent)
Climate Change Threatens Development of Billions of World's Poorest People, Charity Says (Associated Press/Environmental News Network)
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