Working together to end poverty and injustice

Killer facts on climate change

• Developing countries bear more than nine-tenths of the human and economic burden, while the 50 poorest countries contribute less than one per cent of the emissions that are heating up the planet. ⁽⁸⁾
• The upper range of sea level rise will likely be in the range of 50cm – 1 m, or possibly more by 2100, affecting one in ten people on the planet. ⁽⁷⁾
• 600,000 died worldwide as a result of weather-related natural disasters in the 1990s; some 95 per cent of these were in poor countries. ⁽¹⁾
• The number of people at risk of hunger is projected to increase due to climate change by 50 million by 2050. (2)
• Heatwaves have increased nearly three-fold over the past 20 years from 29 in 1987-1996 to 76 in 1997-2006. (3)
• By the end the century a third of the globe’s land will be subject to extreme drought—a sevenfold increase. (2)
• A one metre rise in sea level would wipe out a third of the world’s croplands. (2)
• More than half the world’s population now lives within 60 km from the sea. (5)
• The total number of natural disasters has quadrupled in the last two decades – most of them floods, cyclones and storms. (3)
• Climate models foresee the malaria zone encompassing 60 per cent of the world’s people by the end of this century.(2)
• Annual carbon dioxide emissions grew by about 80 per cent between 1970 and 2004. (4)
• 83 per cent of people believe lifestyle changes are necessary to cut emissions of climate warming carbon gases. (6)

References

1. World Health Organisation, Climate and Health Fact Sheet, August 2007
2. The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change, third edition 2006, Dinyar Godrej
3. Oxfam climate alarm report: Climate Alarm: Disasters increase as climate change bites, November 2007
4. Summary for Policymakers of the Synthesis Report of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report
5. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fourth Assessment Report, 2007
6. BBC World Service survey of 22,000 people in 21 countries, Nov 2007
7. Climate change: Global risks, challenges and decisions conference, Copenhagen, March 2009
8. Human Impact Report: A comprehensive report documenting the global impact of climate change on human society today.