Poorest will be hit hardest by global warming

The poorest people in the world will be the chief victims of the West's failure to tackle global warning, with millions of Africans forecast to die by the end of the century, according to a new report out today.

The potential ravages of climate change are so severe that they could nullify the efforts to end the legacy of poverty and disease across developing countries, Christian Aid warns.

The report highlights the fact that, despite hand-wringing in the West about the threat to its coastlines from rising temperatures, it is the poorest who look set to suffer most.

Christian Aid said that a "staggering" 182 million people in sub-Saharan Africa could die of disease directly attributable to climate change by 2100.

Many millions more face death and devastation from climate-induced floods, famine, drought and conflict triggered, it claims.

Sir John Houghton, former co-chair of the scientific assessment working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has given his support to the report's findings.

"This report exposes clearly and starkly the devastating impact that human induced climate change will have on many of the world's poorest people," he said.

Its warning came as almost 200 nations meet later this week in Bonn to try to close the gap between the US and its allies over the best way to combat climate change.

While 40 nations are committed to cutting carbon emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol, the United States and leading developing countries such as China have refused to sign.

Kyoto obliges rich nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008 to 2012.

Few experts expect the Bonn talks to break new ground.

The summit of the leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations chaired by Tony Blair in Gleneagles last July agreed to develop markets for clean energy technologies, increase their availability in developing countries, and help vulnerable communities adapt to the impact of climate change.

Last week the head of environment at the World Bank, the international body that leads the fight against global poverty, said the world needed to do more to protect the poor from the threats from global warming.

"As a development institution we have to focus on the fact that millions of people will suffer from climate change," Warren Evans said.

"The last G8 pushed African development but didn't focus on the impact of climate change on Africa. We need to catch up on our understanding of that," Mr Evans said.

Last month the World Bank said that developing and transition countries would require investments of around $300bn a year over the next 25 years.

In its report, The climate of poverty: facts, fears and hopes, Christian Aid called on rich countries to fund a switch away from fossil fuels towards clean energy sources.

It called on the UK Government to reduce CO2 emissions by two-thirds of 1990 levels by 2050 compared with their current pledge to cut emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010.

It also wants the UK to push its allies to offer new financial support to developing countries to offer financial compensation for the damage already done to the environment.

Earlier this year The Independent highlighted a radical proposal by a United Nations commission to establish an international pollution permit trading system that it claims could deliver $3.64 trillion of global wealth.

- INDEPENDENT