Canada’s Pollution Harming World’s Poorest

When the G8 gather in Italy this week, they must take personal responsibility for preventing the climate disaster already unfolding in the developing world, Oxfam and other groups said in Ottawa today at the presentation of a new Oxfam report on the human cost of climate change.

“As one of the world’s highest emitters of greenhouse gases, our pollution is literally killing the future of the world’s poorest people,” said Joanna Kerr of Oxfam Canada.

“Canada took dramatic action to answer the financial crisis, and we must do the same on climate change, for the human cost is as real as layoffs and foreclosures.”

“Canada’s government must understand the seriousness of the climate threat”, said Michel Verret of Oxfam-Québec. “Crop failures, epidemics, floods and droughts are already becoming the norm. As with every other country, Canada must reduce its emissions and help poor countries adapt.”

“G8 leaders need to take leadership and positive action in the lead-up to finalizing an ambitious post-Kyoto agreement in Copenhagen,” said Gerry Barr of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation. “In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the G8 countries, including Canada, must provide generous funding to help those bearing the brunt of climate change to reduce their vulnerability.”

“Oxfam’s new report rings it loud and clear,” said Graham Saul of Climate Action Network. “Climate change spells disaster for all of us if we do not act now. The science cited in the report is unassailable: Canada cannot continue to hide behind the fantasy that the rising incidence of natural calamities, hunger, and disease are unrelated to our outsized emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Oxfam’s report, “Suffering the Science - Climate Change, People and Poverty”, combines the latest scientific observations on the human impact of climate change with evidence from Oxfam’s work in almost 100 countries around the world.

Oxfam called on Prime Minister Harper to take personal responsibility for Canada’s role in tackling climate change. ”Only political commitment at the highest level can prevent a human catastrophe,” Joanna Kerr said. “At the G8 we urge him and the leaders of the other richest polluting countries to own up to our moral obligations.”

Download a copy of the report