2013-04-08 11.51.06

2013-04-08 11.51.06

Image by Douglas Hadden

CHRISTIAN AID WELCOMES WORLD BANK REPORT EXPOSING CLIMATE POVERTY LINK

The World Bank is right to highlight the connection between poverty and climate change but needs to practice what it preaches and stop funding fossil fuel projects around the globe, says Christian Aid.

Responding to Sunday’s publication of the bank’s new report, Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty Christian Aid’s Senior Climate Advisor, Mohamed Adow, said: “It is good to see the World Bank underlining the clear connection between climate change and how it fuels poverty. That is why so many organisations that fight poverty are concerned about climate change.

“The poor are the least able to respond to the impacts of climate change.  Already living on the brink they not only can least afford to lose their homes and livelihoods they also often lack the mobility to move away from climate threats leaving them trapped.

“Thankfully there is time to act, both by limiting greenhouse gas emissions and also providing vital adaptation support for the vulnerable. Politicians will have an immediate opportunity to respond to this report at the UN climate summit in Paris.”

However Mr Adow said the World Bank also needed to get its own house in order and stop funding fossil fuel projects which are contributing to the problem their report is highlighting.

He said: “Climate change is basically international development in reverse. By pouring millions into fossil fuel projects the World Bank is making the situation worse.  It needs to stop the pollution and be part of the solution.  The developing world is rich with renewable energy resources, the World Bank should be using its money to help poor communities to harness them.”

Ends

Notes:

1. Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in around 40 countries at any one time. We act where there is great need, regardless of religion, helping people to live a full life, free from poverty. We provide urgent, practical and effective assistance in tackling the root causes of poverty as well as its effects.

2. Christian Aid’s core belief is that the world can and must be changed so that poverty is ended:  this is what we stand for. Everything we do is about ending poverty and injustice: swiftly, effectively, sustainably. Our strategy document Partnership for Change (http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/partnership-for-change-summary.pdf) explains how we set about this task.

3. Christian Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of more than 130 churches and church-related organisations that work together in humanitarian assistance, advocacy and development.  Further details at http://actalliance.org

4. Follow Christian Aid's newswire on Twitter: http://twitter.com/caid_newswire

5. For more information about the work of Christian Aid visit http://www.christianaid.org.uk

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ActionAid statement

Reacting to today’s publication of the World Bank report, “Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty”, ActionAid’s Climate Policy Manager, Harjeet Singh, said:

“The World Bank’s analysis of poor people’s vulnerability to climate impacts is not new, but it rightly highlights that poverty cannot be addressed without tackling climate change.  Poor people and poor countries are most vulnerable to climate change as they have limited assets, skills and knowledge to overcome the effects.

“However, the World Bank is coming late to the game with its talk of improving social protection to fight the effects of climate change.  In reality, the World Bank has had a long and dubious record of forcing developing countries to reduce their public expenditure to provide basic services, and protecting socially and economically weaker populations. It will need to address this before it can reliably practise what the report preaches."

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Oxfam:

Climate change puts millions at risk of falling into poverty, World Bank warns

Oxfam commended the World Bank for connecting the need to tackle climate change with the urgent fight to end poverty. In a new report, the Bank warned that more than 100 million additional people could be pushed into poverty by crop failures, floods, hunger, and other shocks caused by climate change.

The head of Oxfam International’s Washington office, Nicolas Mombrial, said:

"This report further highlights what Oxfam has been warning for many years: climate change is exacerbating inequality and hurting poor people first and worst. To effectively solve the climate crisis we must simultaneously tackle the root causes of poverty and hunger globally.

“Unfortunately, there is still too often a disconnect between Bank research and its own practices. It is crucial for the Bank to heed its own warnings and support equitable, low carbon development. It must also promote community resilience to climate change through its policies and programs.”

The report, “Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty,” adds urgency to the need for ambitious and durable climate agreement in Paris that addresses the needs of poor and vulnerable communities as they build low-carbon, climate-resilient economies.

Mombrial said:

"Any climate deal must commit countries to making their greenhouse gas cuts more aggressive and help vulnerable countries to adapt to climate impacts. It must also promote clean growth by dramatically increasing public finance, building on the yearly $100 billion already promised by 2020."  

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