Some 25 million people have already been forced to leave their homes due to environmental problems. That number, according to a report by Tearfund, a UK-based relief and development agency, could become as high as 200 million by mid-century as the impacts of climate change cause water shortages around the world.
Feeling the Heat
In places as diverse as Mexico, Nigeria, and China, climate change has led to desertification and variable precipitation patterns as well as an increase in the severity of droughts and floods. These phenomena have taken a toll on poor populations.
Tearfund's report, Feeling the Heat, documents:
- How climate change is affecting water resources;
- Implications of increased water scarcity for the world's poor;
- The current state of "environmental refugees"; and
- Community adaptation measures already underway.
Aral Sea, 1973 (left) and 2004 (right)
Humans have had an impact on water supplies too. Water volume in the Aral Sea, the world's fourth largest inland sea, has dropped by about 80 percent since the 1960s, primarily due to extensive irrigation for the production of cotton.
Above images are from the United Nations Environment Programme's One Planet Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment.
Recommendations for Policy
Tearfund offers a set of recommendations for governments and international donors.
"World governments must therefore take urgent action next month at the UN climate change conference COP12 in Nairobi (6-17 November). They must:
- produce a timetable for agreeing the next phase of the Kyoto Protocol, and focus on setting tougher, binding targets to cut their carbon emissions;
- provide urgent funding to help poor countries adapt to climate change;
- make water resources an urgent priority for adaptation efforts and prevent likely rises in the number of climate change refugees;
- address the dramatic effects of increasing water scarcity on other key development sectors such as health."
The report notes that, to date, wealthy countries have not fully delivered on their financial promises to aid developing countries' climate change adaptation strategies.
RELATED LINKS:
Feeling the Heat, full report (pdf)
EarthTrends Water Resources and Freshwater Ecosystems Searchable Database
