The pollution gap
In the UK today The Independent is saying in an article titled “The pollution gap” that the world’s poorer countries are being forced to pay for the CO2 emissions of the developed nations: I have selected some quotes, but please check out the whole article before they archive it and you have to pay.
Over 70 million Africans and an even greater number of farmers in the Indian sub-continent will suffer catastrophic floods, disease and famine if the rich countries of the world fail to change their habits and radically cut their carbon emissions.
The bleak facts on how climate change threatens the third world were laid out in a briefing paper drawn up this month by the Department for International Development.
“It’s the poorest people in the world who suffer from climate change, but they are the least responsible for it.” John Magragh, of Oxfam, said yesterday.
The report emphasises that - despite the recent focus on New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina - 94 per cent of all natural disasters, and 97 per cent of deaths from natural disasters, occur in the developing countries.
Flooding caused by Hurricane Mitch brought a sixfold increase in cholera in Nicaragua. Mozambique’s annual economic growth dropped from 8 per cent to 2 per cent in a year after a cyclone.
- DS
Technorati Tags: Africa, Bangladesh, climate change, CO2, Corporate Social Responsibiltiy, cyclone, eco, environment, genocide, global warming, hurricane, India, Industry, meltdown, the beginning of the end
