Poverty and climate change

GCAP fights the structural determinants and causes of poverty and challenges the institutions and processes that perpetuate poverty and inequality across the world. GCAP believes that climate change represents one of the greatest threats to people and the planet and must be tackled with urgency.

The GCAP Montevideo Communique, May 2007 states: “The lives and livelihoods of millions are being steadily destroyed by denying them rights over land, water, forest, natural resources and energy. Climate Change is exacerbating this. Floods, droughts, famine and conflicts resulting from climate change also threaten the development goals for billions of the world's poorest people.  Action by the international community and national governments is required to address climate change and its impacts in particular on people living in poverty.”

GCAP Statements

•  15/01/08 - Joint Communiqué from Civil Society groups in South Asia

South Asia GCAP follows the strategy to create political will by promoting the campaign throughout the region by means of communication as well as by facilitating joint modes of mobilization in the region. GCAP aims to minimize and oppose the negative impacts of trans-boundary issues, actions and high-handed development interventions on people’s lives. In October 2007, GCAP mobilized 43.7 million people on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, of which 23 million were in the South Asia region. More

What is Climate Change?

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world’s leading independent body on climate change, believes that human activities are already affecting some natural systems. Their reports state that unmitigated climate change would, in the long term, be likely to exceed the capacity of natural, managed and human systems to adapt.  The climate is constantly changing but scientists are concerned that global warming caused by humans has overtaken natural fluctuations in climate and that this is having serious consequences for people and the planet.

The link between poverty and climate change

Poverty and climate changed are intrinsically linked and one cannot be tackled without addressing the other. It is clear that the poor are increasingly most directly affected by the impact of climate change.

People living in the poorest countries of the world, such as Bangladesh and Niger will be, and are already, most affected by flooding, deforestation and desertification. In the Pacific islands, a rapid rise in sea levels is already endangering people’s livelihoods and homes.

Climate change will affect the income-generating capacity of vulnerable populations potentially increasing the number of people experiencing hunger. 

Donor countries can play a key role by paying their fair share of climate adaptation costs to Africa other developing regions.  Enabling poor countries to adapt to alleviate the pressure on land, water, forests and other natural resources, is therefore actually a means of mitigating climate change itself.

Addressing climate change is an issue of justice, not charity.

Facts

• Greenhouse gas emissions have caused global temperatures to rise by .74 degrees Celsius since the beginning of the 20th century.
• If these gasses are not reduced it is likely the increase in global temperature this century will exceed 2 degrees.
• It is estimated that 60% of current human migration is caused by climate change and natural disasters.
• The melting of glaciers increases the risk of flooding.  The rise in sea levels could oblige the forced displacement of over 200 million people.
• Harvests will continue to decrease particularly in Africa. By 2100 Chad, Niger and Zambia risk losing almost their entire agricultural sector.
• The health impact of climate change on the poor is extreme.  Diarrhoea caused by lack of access to clean water is responsible for the deaths of 5 million people (90% children).  It is estimated that climate change, at current levels, could lead to a 10% increase in cases in some regions by 2030.
• At current rates, by 2015 around 2.170 million people around the world will still lack basic health services and 650 million will not have access to drinking water.

GCAP Commits

GCAP campaigners commit to keep the importance of poverty relief at the forefront of the debate on climate change.  They will do this by raising awareness via national coalitions in rich and poor countries and ensuring that action is taken by the international community and national governments to address climate change and its impact on people living in poverty.

See also:

• Global Call for Action on Climate Change: GCAP will actively support the CSO Forum and the long march from East Java to Bali starting on 6 Dec. A people’s protocol on climate change, being developed by people from Asia and Africa will be submitted to President of UNFCCC on 8 December. 
  
• National coalitions: Call for action from national platforms.

To know more

• Read the latest Oxfam report "Climate Alarm: Disasters increase as climate change bites"

Climatic disasters are increasing as temperatures climb and rainfall intensifies. A rise in small- and medium-scale disasters is a particularly worrying trend. Yet even extreme weather need not bring disasters; it is poverty and powerlessness that make people vulnerable. Though more emergency aid is needed, humanitarian response must do more than save lives: it has to link to climate change adaptation and bolster poor people’s livelihoods through social protection and disaster risk reduction approaches. Oxfam’s recommendations are:

Mitigate: Greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced drastically to keep global average temperature rise as far below two degrees Celsius as possible. Rich countries must act first and fastest. The next UN climate-change conference in Bali in December is a vital opportunity. 

Adapt: Oxfam has estimated that, in addition to funding for emergency response, developing countries will require at least US$50bn annually to adapt to unavoidable climate change. These funds should be provided by rich nations in line with their responsibility for causing climate change and their capacity to assist. Additional finance for adaptation is not aid, but a form of compensatory finance; it must not come out of long-standing donor commitments to provide 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product as aid in order to eradicate poverty. At present, funding for adaptation is totally inadequate, and the forthcoming UN climate conference in Bali in December must mandate the search for new funds. Innovative financing mechanisms need to be explored.

Improve the global humanitarian system:

Increase emergency aid: Major donor governments must keep their promises to increase Overseas Development Aid by an additional US$50bn a year by 2010. If they do, then humanitarian aid is likely to increase in proportion from over US$8bn to over US$11bn. But aid is going in the wrong direction, and anyway this is unlikely to be enough; increased warming and climate change pose the very real danger that humanitarian response will be overwhelmed in the coming decades. More money and better responses are both needed.

Ensure fast, fair, flexible, appropriate aid: This should include moving away from over-reliance on in-kind food aid, towards more flexible solutions such as cash transfers.

Reduce vulnerability and the risk of disaster:

Build long-term social protection: Climate change is accentuating the fact that for many poor people, shocks are the norm. Governments must put poor people first. Aid should be used to build and protect the livelihoods and assets of poor people. Providing essential services like water, sanitation, health and education, and long-term social protection systems form the foundations for timely emergency scale-up when required.

Invest in disaster risk reduction (DRR): Governments have made commitments to make the world safer from natural hazards through investing in DRR approaches. They need to put their promises into action and link DRR to both climate-change adaptation measures and to national poverty reduction strategies.

Build local capacity: Build the capacity of local actors, particularly government at all levels, and empower affected populations so they have a strong role and voice in preparedness, response and subsequent recovery and rehabilitation.

Do development right: Development aid should integrate analyses of disaster risk and climate trends. Inappropriate development strategies not only waste scant resources, they also end up putting more people at risk, for instance by the current reckless rush to produce biofuels without adequate safeguards for poor people and important environments.

• ActionAid report: “Compensating for Climate Change:  Principles and Lessons for Equitable Adaptation Funding.”

The report identifies five principles for effective adaptation funding:

    * Democratic governance

    * Civil society participation

    * Sustainable and compensatory financing

    * No economic policy conditionality

    * Access for the most vulnerable

It then reviews current available channels for adaptation funding, including the funding streams associated with the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and bilateral development assistance.   Finally, it explores and evaluates alternative models for adaptation finance based on two existing precedents (the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol).  In the end, ActionAid makes seven key recommendations for the future of adaptation finance. The report will be used in ActionAid’s advocacy effort in the upcoming climate negotiations in Bali , Indonesia , December 3-14.

• Human Development Report 2007/2008 "Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world"

The report argues that progress made in recent years in human development is being threatened by climate change. The signs are already observable, mainly among the poorest and most vulnerable populations and countries. But in future we will all be exposed to the impacts of climate change. The report identifies five tipping points, which could stall and then seriously reverse human development if we do not act together now to protect the planet we all share:

    * Agricultural production and food security. Climate change is already affecting rainfall, temperatures and the availability of water for agriculture, particularly in vulnerable areas. For example, drought affected areas in sub-Saharan Africa could expand by 60-90 million hectares. Other developing regions-including Latin America and South Asia-will also experience losses in agricultural production. The additional number affected by malnutrition could rise to 600 million by 2080.

    * Water stress and water insecurity. Changed run-off patterns and glacial melt will add to ecological stress, compromising flows of water for irrigation and human settlements in the process in various parts of Asia and Latin America . An additional 1.8 billion people could be living in a water scarce environment by 2080.

    * Rising sea levels and exposure to climate disasters. There is evidence that climate change will bring with it more intense tropical storms, as warming oceans generate cyclones and lead to rising sea levels. Sea levels could rise rapidly with accelerated ice sheet disintegration. Global temperature increases of 3-4°C could result in 330 million people being permanently or temporarily displaced through flooding.

    * Declining health. Rich countries are already preparing public health systems to deal with future climate shocks, such as the 2003 European heatwave and more extreme summer and winter conditions. However, the greatest health impacts will be felt in developing countries because of high levels of poverty and the limited capacity of public health systems to respond. Major killer diseases could expand their coverage. For example, an additional 220-400 million people could be exposed to malaria-a disease that already claims around 1 million lives annually.

    * Collapsing ecosystems. Around one-half of the world's coral reef systems have suffered 'bleaching' as a result of warming seas. The collapse of corals would represent a catastrophic event for human development in several countries. Beyond their value in the lives and nutrition of the poor, corals generate income, exports and, in some regions, support the tourism industry, the economic foundation for many countries.

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