Globally, 75% of people living in poverty in rural areas rely on natural resources such as forests, lakes and oceans for their livelihoods.
World Bank reports that the world’s 74 lowest income countries account for just one tenth of global greenhouse gases, but will be hit hardest by the impacts of climate change.
Increasingly, frequent and severe droughts and floods impact crop production globally, reducing the availability of food and driving up prices, leading to low income countries being hit the hardest.
When crop yields decrease, families go hungry and, according to the World Food Program, competition for food and resources also increases community conflict, which further aggravates hunger.
While scarcity impacts a huge number of the world’s poor, on the other side of the extreme, increasing rainfall and flooding events are also set to increase, with equally as damaging effect. For communities with poor infrastructure, the impact of flooding and rising sea levels can be catastrophic which may lead to destroying their homes and food, thereby leading many to poverty.
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Climate change has also made water access even more difficult by causing more frequent droughts, increased evaporation, and changes in rainfall patterns and run-off that especially impact water availability in areas like the sub-tropics, which already experience water scarcity.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), climate change has a direct impact on increasing illness and disease, including malnutrition from food shortages, deaths and injuries from extreme weather events. This exposes new populations to deadly diseases.
In Kenya, for example, prolonged drought means many communities loose their main source of income.
Especially in communities that depend on farming and agriculture for their income, climate change has catastrophic effects.
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