The fight against poverty, climate change is not isolated. protect the poor from energy taxes

TeaThe world stands at a crossroads in fighting the many challenges facing humanity, the most important of which is climate change. But the effects of climate change vary greatly between countries and population groups. This climate crisis is grossly unfair, affecting the poor disproportionately. Countries with the fewest resources are likely to bear the greatest burden in terms of loss of life and relative impact on investment and the economy.

world bank report Only one-tenth of the world’s greenhouse gases are emitted by the 74 lowest-income countries, but they will be hardest hit by the effects of climate change. compared to the 1980s, they have already experienced almost eight times more than natural disasters in the last 10 years. By 2050, unchecked climate change could force more than 200 million people to flee their own countries, pushing 130 million into poverty and undoing decades of hard-earned development achievements.

1. Health

The climate crisis seriously threatens the achievement of universal health coverage (UHC) in a variety of ways, including exacerbating the existing burden of disease and increasing existing barriers to accessing health services, often at a time when they are most vulnerable. More is needed. Globally, a warming of 2–3 °C could result in more than 150 million additional cases of malaria worldwide, or a 5% increase in the number of people at risk. Increasing water scarcity will affect water quality and sanitation, and diarrhea will become more common. By 2030, it is predicted that there will be 48,000 more deaths from diarrhea In children under 15 years of age.

2. Hunger

Poor people will be most affected by changes in food production, higher consumption prices and changes in rural incomes as a result of impacts on agricultural productivity and gradual changes in long-term climate trends or more frequent and severe natural disasters. Crop yield failures are estimated to be as likely 4.5 times more by 2030 and 25 times more by 2050 In the global breadbasket. The loss of crop yields could mean that food prices in sub-Saharan Africa would be 12% higher on average.

3. water scarcity

Climate change is threatening access to water. Frequent droughts, increased evapotranspiration and changes in rainfall patterns and run-off affect water availability especially in regions such as the sub-tropics, which already experience water scarcity. By 2025, will be 5 billion people on the planetUp from the current 1.7 billion who will be affected by water scarcity.

4. Education

Many families survived the economic downturn brought on by destroyed crops through counter-productive means such as pulling their children out of school to save on fees and/or employing them to make up for lost income Will remain

5. Making refugees

Climate change is a powerful driver of internal migration as it impacts on the livelihoods of people and reduces their ability to live in highly exposed places. By 2050, 216 million climate refugees will be displaced in six regions of the world, with the top three In sub-Saharan Africa (86 million), East Asia and the Pacific (49 million), South Asia (40 million).

6. Work related hazards

Excessive heat during work poses an occupational health risk; It restricts an employee’s physical functions and abilities, work efficiency and productivity. Heat stress estimates reduce total working hours 2.2% increase worldwide and $2.4 billion in global GDP in 2030.

Ending poverty and fighting climate change cannot be done in isolation – both are more easily achieved if addressed together in the poorest countries. Developing countries have an opportunity to build resilience and reduce short-term climate change impacts on poverty through development policies that are inclusive and climate-informed. This is especially true for investments that involve high immediate costs but are urgently needed to prevent lock-in to carbon-intensive patterns such as urban transport, energy infrastructure or deforestation.

Solutions do exist. In particular, structural transformation of rural economies should be accelerated so that fewer agricultural workers are exposed to higher temperatures and exert less physical effort in such conditions. Other important policy measures that can help are skills development, fostering an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises, public investment in infrastructure, and better integration of developing countries into global trade.

Domestic resources may be insufficient to take such measures, and international support will be essential. The international community can help poor and vulnerable countries adapt by providing financial support and developing institutional capacity.

However, threats to development and poverty alleviation will only increase over time if no mitigation measures are in place. This means that nations must take immediate action to cut their emissions using two strategies:

  • Focus on ways to reduce emissions that have a positive impact on health, the economy or development, such as using mini-grids and renewable energy sources in isolated rural areas or switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs and appliances .

  • Protect the poor by increasing Social Security and cash transfers, which can be paid for by eliminating energy taxes or fossil-fuel subsidies.

This article was originally published In World Economic Forum.


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