Climate Change and the Poor

Who will suffer the most from climate change? The poor, rather obviously.

Kenya Environmental and Politics News Weblog reports on the rising incidence of malaria in Nairobi. Kenya's capital is at about 1700 meters, above the normal danger zone for malaria. But this is changing. Warming temperatures are creating better habitat at higher elevations for mosquitoes. Kenyans are poor. Many live in slums and are more likely to pick up diseases. Several decades ago, malaria was eradicated from Nairobi thanks to the draining of swamps and other health measures. Now it is back and affecting growing numbers of people.

The larger issue here is that impoverished people are more likely to succumb to diseases resulting from climate change. In fact, climate change will radically change the lives of some of the world's poorest people, whether residents of Bangladesh, who will be increasingly susceptible to monsoon flooding, the people of the Pacific Islands who are seeing the oceans take back their lands, or the indigenous people of the Arctic whose livelihood is literally melting away.

I believe that perhaps the most important issue within the social justice movement this century will be dealing with climate change. Are we prepared to handle the massive problems it will cause people? Absolutely not.

Via Global Voices Online