How? A new intensive review has distilled from more than 400 scientific papers and reports a comprehensive, actionable set of technologies and practices that can mitigate climate change and contribute to alleviating extreme poverty at the same time. Instead, we must prioritize activities that address BOTH poverty and climate at the same time and focus on solutions that can provide the biggest benefits to both. The question should not be, “Should we focus on climate change or poverty?” This need not-and should not-be an either/or choice. Growing vulnerability to droughts, floods and forest fires, and worsening food and water security brought on by a changing climate, are propelling those experiencing extreme poverty to the front lines of the climate crisis.Īs the world prepares to invest trillions of dollars in quelling climate change, we must focus on a just transition by ensuring that climate solutions also uplift those who are most impacted. Unfortunately, this is increasingly the reality for the more than 700 million people - about 10% of the global population - living in extreme poverty in low- and middle-income countries. Daily wage workers struggle to work (or find work) in such conditions, and smallholder farmers risk losing their crops and falling back into poverty. The heat not only brings miseries due to heat-trapping asbestos roofs - pervasive in developing countries - and the urban heat island effect it also directly harms livelihoods. And the people most impacted are those living in poverty - unfortunately, the ones who are least responsible for climate change. The number of heat-related illnesses is soaring. The current heat wave has devastated crops, including wheat, vegetables and fruits. It confirms what scientists have been saying all along: The effects of climate change on food and water security, public health, children, and the economically disadvantaged are severe and disproportionate. The record-breaking heat wave in India and Pakistan is the harbinger of the new climate normal. Project Drawdown: We must prioritize activities that address both poverty and climate By Yusuf Jameel | May 16, 2022
0 kommentar(er)
