This is a process and a condition that are interrelated. While the effects of climate change and global warming will have direct effects on the natural environment especially on agriculture, the impact on human civilization is also of concern. Specifically, the impact of climate change and poverty is one of the greatest areas of human impact, and it proposes a burden on the global scale.
The majority of adverse effects of climate change are most experienced by poor and low-income communities around the world. Those in poverty have a higher chance of experiencing the ill-effects climate change more dramatically due to increased exposure and vulnerability
According to the United Nations Development Programme, developing countries suffer 99% of the casualties attributable to climate change
Reversing development
Climate change is globally encompassing and can reverse development in some areas in the following ways. Agricultural production and food security.Climate change will affect rainfall, temperature, and water availability for agriculture in vulnerable areas .Climate change could affect agriculture in several ways including productivity, agricultural practices, environmental effects, and distribution of rural space . Additional number affected by malnutrition could rise to 600 million by 2080. Climate change could worsen the prevalence of hunger through direct negative effects on production and indirect impacts on purchasing powers.Water insecurity - Of the 3 billion growth in population projected worldwide by the midcentury, the majority will be born in countries already experiencing water shortages . As the overall climate of the earth warms, changes in the nature of global rainfall, evaporation, snow, and runoff flows will be affected Safe water sources are essential for survival within a community. Manifestations of the projected water crisis include inadequate access to safe drinking water for about 884 million people as well as inadequate access to water for sanitation and water disposal for 2.5 billion people
Rising sea levels and exposure to climate disasters- Sea levels could rise rapidly with accelerated ice sheet disintegration. Global temperature increases of 3-4 degrees C could result in 330 million people being permanently or temporarily displaced through flooding.Warming seas will also fuel more intense tropical storms.
Ecosystems and biodiversity - Climate change is already transforming Ecological systems. Around one-half of the world’s coral reef systems have suffered bleaching as a result of warming seas. In addition, the direct human pressures that might be experienced include overfishing which could lead to resource depletion, nutrient and chemical pollution and poor land use practices such as deforestation and dredging. Also, climate change may increase the amount of arable land in high-latitude regions by reduction of the amount of frozen lands. A 2005 study reports that temperature in Siberia has increased three degree Celsius in average since 1960, which is reportedly more than in other areas of the world.
Human health - direct effect is increase in temperature-related illnesses and deaths related to prolonged heat waves and humidity. Climate change could also change the geographic range of vector-borne, specifically mosquito-borne disease such as malaria dengue fever exposing new populations to the disease . Because a changing climate affects the essential ingredients of maintaining good health: clean air and water, sufficient food and adequate shelter, the effects could be widespread and pervasive. The report of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health points out that disadvantaged communities are likely to shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden of climate change because of their increased exposure and vulnerability to health threats . Over 90 percent of malaria and diarrhea deaths are borne by children aged 5 years or younger, mostly in developing countries. Other severely affected population groups include women, the elderly and people living in small island developing states and other coastal regions, mega-cities or mountainous areas.
Security impacts
The concept of Human security and the effects that climate change may have on it will become increasingly important as the changes become more apparent .Some effects are already evident and will become very clear in the human and climatic short run (2007–2020). They will increase and others will manifest themselves in the medium term (2021–2050); whilst in the long run (2051–2100), they will all be active and interacting strongly with other major trends. There is the potential for the end of the petroleum economy for many producing and consuming nations, possible financial and economic crisis, a larger population of humans, and a much more urbanized humanity – far in excess of the 50% now living in small to very large cities . All these processes will be accompanied by redistribution of population nationally and internationally . Such redistributions typically have significant gender dimensions; for example, extreme event impacts can lead to male out migration in search of work, culminating in an increase in women-headed households – a group often considered particularly vulnerable . Indeed, the effects of climate change on impoverished women and children is crucial in that women and children in particular, have unequal human capabilities
Infrastructure impacts
The potential effects of climate change and the security of infrastructure will have the most direct effect on the poverty cycle. Areas of infrastructure effects will include water systems, housing and settlements, transport networks, utilities, and industry . Infrastructure designers can contribute in three areas for improving living environment for the poor, in building design, in settlement planning and design as well as in urban planning . The National Research Council has identified five climate changes of particular importance to infrastructure and factors that should be taken into consideration when designing future structures. These factors include: increases in very hot days and heat waves, increases in Artic temperatures, rising sea levels, increases in intense precipitation events, and increases in hurricane intensity . Accordingly, transportation decision makers continually make short- and long-term investment decisions that affect how infrastructure will respond to climate change.REFERENCES:WIKIPEDIA
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