Volume 1
Global climate change and sustainable development : third report of Session 2001-02 / International Development Committee.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. International Development Committee
- Date:
- 2002
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Global climate change and sustainable development : third report of Session 2001-02 / International Development Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![development plans and strategies recognise climate risk.” Climate change has the potential to increase further the inequality between developed and developing countries. As with corruption and HIV/AIDS, climate change could undermine development investment. However, unlike corruption or HIV/AIDS, climate change is not widely recognised as a problem because many of its impacts are gradual and long-term, Regional impacts, adaptive capacity and vulnerability 19. Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation will place hundreds of millions of people additionally at risk from either hunger, water shortage, coastal flooding or malaria.*° Those people additionally at risk live mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Southern Asia. The IPCC regards Africa, Asia, Latin America and small island states as highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change while having little capacity to adapt.”’ 20. The impacts of climate change on Africa are particularly worrying (see figure 7). Coastal settlements, which are often important engines of economic growth, will be adversely affected by rising sea levels.** Most African rivers are highly sensitive to climate change and will be adversely affected by an increase in both the frequency and magnitude of droughts, floods and storms. Food security, already a problem in many parts of Africa, could worsen as climate change is likely to exacerbate desertification and cause grain yields across much of Africa to decline. As the climate changes, infectious diseases are likely to spread to areas previously unaffected.” 21. In Asia and Latin America, extreme events are likely to be more severe and to occur more frequently, with an associated reduction in water quality. Increased exposure to infectious diseases will affect health in both Asia and Latin America. In some parts of Asia, heat stress will increase. Rising sea levels and increased flooding will cause population displacement in much of Asia.°' In Asia agricultural productivity will decline and water will become more scarce in some areas. 22. Small island states are likely to suffer many of the impacts that will affect coastal areas (see paragraph 27) and are particularly at risk from rising sea levels.°” Most their critical infrastructure tends to be located on the coastline, where much of socioeconomic activity on islands tends to take place. Rising sea levels will accelerate coastal erosion, loss of land and dislocation of people. An eighty centimetre sea-level rise could inundate two- thirds of the Marshall Islands and Kiribati. A ninety centimetre rise could see eight-five per cent of Male, the capital of the Maldives inundated.* With limited agricultural land available for food production, any loss of land through coastal erosion or increased salinity could adversely affect food security. Small island states are particularly vulnerable to any increased ferocity and frequency of storms. The already limited access to fresh water is likely to be made worse as flooding and rising sea levels cause saltwater intrusion into freshwater sources. Tourism is important for many small island states and any increase in storm frequency, coral bleaching, beach erosion, or loss of fisheries (for angling) could deter tourists.°* Andrew Bennett, DFID, said that some small island states were so fragile that they were likely to become uninhabitable.® Ey 70 [para 4] *°Q40 ~ Report of IPCC Working Group I: Summary for Policy Makers, 2001, Table SPM-2 ee Ev 59 $ * IPCC, 2001, Third Assessment Report, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability ggReport of IPCC Working Group II: Summary for Policy Makers, 2001, Table SPM-2 Q25](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32221356_0001_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
