Climate Change Will Affect Poor The Most, Scientist Says
AEN News
New York - Changes in weather patterns and extreme weather events
due to climate change will have the greatest impact on the world's
poorest people, the head of the of the leading scientific panel
on the issue told the UN Commission on Sustainable Development
in New York today.
R.K. Pachauri, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, noted that so far the emphasis in confronting climate
change has focused solely on mitigating the causes that have
been responsible for a warm-up of the earth's atmosphere.
But he said far more must be done to support technological
advances - such as the development crops that can withstand
droughts or floods, use less water, and withstand greater salinity
- that would allow the poor to adapt to the effects of climate
change.
He also called for attention to power sources. "Unless the energy
needs of the poor are met, we will not be able to attain sustainable
development," he said.
Pachauri said the earth's atmosphere can heat up from 1.4-5.8ÂșC by
the end of the century and in the same time period, sea level
can rise anywhere from 9 to 88 cm. At the same time, he said the
frequency, intensity and location of extreme weather events
such as storms, droughts and floods, is expected to change.
"The poorest of the poor are likely to be most affected as a
result of climate change," he emphasized.
The IPCC is presently working on a new assessment which he said
"should fill in some of the gaps" in international knowledge.
Halldor Thorgeirsson, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change, said the biggest
challenge, right now, was to influence investment decisions
that could affect the development and implementation of
cleaner technologies by the private sector.
"The economics are not right," he said. "The cost of emissions
is not carried by the emitter, but by the rest of humanity."
The Commission on Sustainable Development is presently holding
a two-week session focusing on the inter-related issues of
energy, air pollution, industrial development and climate change.
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