The poor in India pay the cost of climate change

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The poor in India are already suffering from the effects of climate change due to decades of industrial development according to World Vision India’s national director, Dr Jayakumar Christian who is in Australia this week.

Dr Christian who heads up one of India’s largest development organisations said its work was being affected by less predictable monsoons, stronger storms, and severe water shortages.

"The biggest impact from future projected climate change on our country is food security and its effect on our children," Dr Christian said. "There is already 49 percent malnourishment of children in India and this is being made worse.

"Low food production means we get increased migration with people moving away from places where they don’t have food security.

"When we think about the future, we must think about our children and this threat is potentially robbing them of their future.

"The Indian government has expressed its political will to act provided the West acts now on climate change and it must show good faith to prevent the situation getting worse.

"The poor are paying the cost of the industrialisation of the West. This is the most regressive impost on the poor, that the West who grew rich by its development is now placing the burden on the poor.

"India is one of the fastest growing nations in the world. Why should we sacrifice the pace of our future growth unless there is serious action by rich nations?

"This is about the future growth prospects for 700 million of the poorest people, most who live on less than $2 a day," he said.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) by the 1950s more than a billion people in Central and South Asia could be suffering significant water shortages and crop yields could decrease by 30 per cent. Furthermore, the gross per capita water availability in India will decline by more than a third by 2050, fueling the potential for tension and conflict.

Media Contact:

Dr Jayakuma Christian will be travelling with Tim Costello today and tomorrow. They can be contacted through Caroline Kitto on 0409 717 999 or Tamara Blackmore on 03 9287 2081 / 0400 689 714

Climate change, Poverty, Asia and the Pacific, Climate Change, Food Security, India

Back to all Results