Trillions Needed To Adapt As Climate Crisis Grows
World 'gravely' unprepared for effects of climate crisis – report; Trillions of dollars needed to avoid ‘climate apartheid’ but this is less than cost of inaction
Damien Carrington, 9 September 2019 (UK Guardian)
"The world’s readiness for the inevitable effects of the climate crisis is ‘gravely insufficient’…[and this] lack of preparedness will result in poverty, water shortages and levels of migration soaring, with an ‘irrefutable toll on human life’…Trillion-dollar investment is needed to avert ‘climate apartheid’, where the rich escape the effects and the poor do not [according to a just-released UN study], but this investment is far smaller than the eventual cost of doing nothing…[The] greatest obstacle is not money but a lack of ‘political leadership that shakes people out of their collective slumber’…[because a] ‘revolution’ is needed in how the dangers of global heating are understood and planned for, and solutions are funded…
Among the most urgent actions recommended are early-warning systems of impending disasters, developing crops that can withstand droughts and restoring mangrove swamps to protect coastlines, while other measures include painting roofs of homes white to reduce heatwave temperatures…The report says severe effects are now inevitable and estimates that unless precautions are taken, 100 million more people could be driven into poverty by 2030…[T]he number of people short of water each year will jump by 1.4 billion to 5 billion, causing unprecedented competition for water, fuelling conflict and migration. On the coasts, rising sea levels and storms will drive hundreds of millions from their homes, with costs of $1tn…[Cutting carbon emissions is vital,] but this has received nearly 20 times more funding than adaptation in recent years…” click here for more
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