London, 27 September: The risks of human-caused climate change are now the greatest threat in the fight to tackle global poverty, CARE International says.
Responding to the first installment of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report, launched in Stockholm today, CARE’s Climate Change Advocacy Coordinator, Sven Harmeling, said:
“The IPCC report sets out more clearly than ever that climate change is happening right here right now, that it is primarily caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and that it is having a serious impact on the planet and its people. As a global organisation working to tackle poverty in some of the world’s poorest places, we know that climate change is now one of the greatest threats to achieving poverty reduction today and in the future. Climate change impacts are also hitting rich countries hard, including the US, Australia and Europe. The risks of inaction to tackle its causes and effects are too great to ignore.”
The IPCC ‘Physical Science’ report is the most comprehensive review and assessment of climate science since 2007. It shows that global temperatures are increasing, sea-level rise is accelerating, oceans are warming and acidifying, rainfall patterns are changing and both glaciers and Arctic sea ice are in decline. In short, climate change is real and it is happening now.
The world’s poor, who have done the least to cause the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change, are already bearing the brunt of shifting weather patterns and a raft of unexpected, and often extreme, weather events.
Sven Harmeling said: “The people we work with are living with the effects of climate change right now. In Niger, farmers are being forced to find new sources of income as climatic changes make rearing livestock impossible. In Peru, highland communities, who have relied on regular water supplies from Andean glaciers for centuries, are having to cope with shifting water availability which is affecting their ability to grow food to feed their families and make a living.”
According to the IPCC report, which presents a conservative rather than alarmist summary of the science, the world is now on a path towards even more dangerous impacts. If action is not taken urgently, a 2°C scenario may be reached by the middle of this century, with dramatic impacts for the planet, the report says.
Sven Harmeling said: “The global climate is already changing undermining and reversing our efforts to tackle poverty. An average global temperature rise of anything above 2°C will completely alter the fundamentals of life on Earth and cause tremendous loss and significant damage. The potential risks facing the poorest and most vulnerable in a 2°C let alone a 5°C, warmer world are unthinkable.”
Sven added: "A continued lack of concerted action is fast becoming the greatest social injustice of our time because the rights of the world's poorest people – to feed their families, to earn a living, to live in dignity - are being compromised by the impacts of climate change. Governments and decision-makers must lead the way in ensuring rapid emissions reductions; effect an urgent shift towards renewable and more efficient energy sources and ramp up support for the world’s poorest people to help them adapt to and prepare for climate change impacts.
"Bold action pledges need to start at the UN Conference of Parties in November in Warsaw, and continue towards the 2014 High Level Meeting of World Leaders announced by UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon. There is absolutely no time to lose.”
Notes to Editors
1. To arrange an interview with CARE’s Advocacy Coordinator, Sven Harmeling, or for further information about how climate change is already impacting people CARE works with around the world, contact CARE’s Climate Change Press and Communications Coordinator, Jo Barrett on [email protected] or +44 (0)7940 703911.
2. CARE is already working with people around the world to manage climate-related impacts on lives and livelihoods. This includes projects with smallholder farmers in Kenya to help people assess long-term climate forecasts so they know when to plant, harvest and store crops. In Thailand and Indonesia, CARE supports coastal communities to tackle threats to land and sources of income posed by rising sea-levels. And in Nepal, CARE is helping highland communities to tackle the impacts of erratic weather; including severe erosion, landslides and flooding.
3. CARE International is a leading humanitarian organisation fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. Last year (2012) CARE worked in 84 countries and reached 122 million people around the world.
4. For further information about CARE’s work to tackle climate change, see: www.careclimatechange.org