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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![and economically productive enterprises are in coastal zones will face a higher risk. IPCC Working Group II noted that the communities that are the most vulnerable to climate change were also subject to pressures from population growth, resource depletion and poverty. Rapid urbanisation, land degradation, water pollution, water scarcity, and the destruction of ecosystems are also added pressures. All these factors affect vulnerability to variations in the current climate, as well as to future climate change. Vulnerability in developing countries 36. Developing countries have limited financial, human, technological, institutional and natural resources,’ making them less able to respond to the effects of climate change.'’* Their economies often rely heavily on agriculture and other sectors that are particularly vulnerable to climate change.'* The greater vulnerability of their ecosystems and settlement patterns means developing countries are more exposed to the adverse effects of climate change and less able to capitalise on any benefits than developed countries. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, with the loss of thousands of lives, the . destruction of seventy per cent of the country’s roads and bridges, and the main pillar of the economy—the agricultural sector—almost wiped out.'* Countries are particularly vulnerable where people are dependent on resources that are vulnerable to climate change. Agricultural activity, vitally important in so many developing countries, often takes place in low-lying areas that are susceptible to sea level rises, Bangladesh being the obvious example. : 37. Increased vulnerability is a product of failed social and economic development. But it is not only the poor who are vulnerable. Many people with reasonable livelihoods are vulnerable if extreme weather events could destroy or significantly disrupt their livelihoods. Katrina Brown, Tyndall Centre, said that there was a special need “...for DFID to remember that poverty does not necessarily equal vulnerability...” in targeting its interventions.'*° DFID should sponsor vulnerability assessments in developing countries and use the information to help target work on adaption where vulnerability is greatest, rather than focusing work on adaptation only on the poorest. In most cases it will be the poorest who are the most vulnerable. a 22R eport of IPCC Working Group II: Summary for Policy Makers, 2001 j 123 te 16 [para 6.1] Report of IPCC Working Group II: Summary for Policy Makers, 2001 125Ry 84](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32221356_0001_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
