Millions face climate-related hunger as seasons shift and change

Rising hunger is just one of the multiple climate change impacts taking their toll on the world’s poorest people, concludes a new report launched by Oxfam today (July 6, 2009). Farmers from Bangladesh to Uganda and Nicaragua, the report says, are no longer able to rely on generations of farming experience, and face failed harvest after failed harvest.

“Suffering the Science - Climate Change, People and Poverty” combines the latest scientific observations on climate change, and evidence from Oxfam’s work in almost 100 countries around the world. The report is being published ahead of the G8 Summit in Italy, where climate change and food security are high on the agenda.

“The world’s poorest people, who already face a daily struggle to survive, are being hit hardest”, said Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada. “Climate change is a central cause of poverty in our times, undermining 50 years of progress. The human cost is as real as any layoff or foreclosure notice.”

A survey of top climate scientists, also published by Oxfam today, said poor people living in low-lying coastal areas, island atolls and mega deltas and farmers are most at risk from climate change because of flooding and prolonged drought. The scientists named South Asia and Africa as climate change hotspots.

Professor Diana Liverman, contributor to three IPCC Assessment Reports and member of the National Academy of Sciences committee which advises the US government on climate change, said, ”If we do not make deep cuts in emissions now, the changing climate will bring heat stress, sea level rise and more extreme drought and floods. Without a serious effort to reduce warming, and in the absence of international funds for adaptation, the food, water, health and livelihoods of millions of people will be at risk.”

Oxfam called on G8 leaders to achieve a breakthrough on climate this week at their summit in Italy. ”Only political commitment at the highest level can prevent a human catastrophe,” Fox said. “G8 leaders, who represent the world’s richest polluting countries, must take personal responsibility for delivering a global climate deal which takes the plight of the world’s poorest people to heart.”

For strong images and personal stories go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfam/collections/

Survey of top climate scientists: 330 scientists who contributed to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report; Working Group II on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, were invited to take part in an on-line survey. 12.73 per cent of scientists responded.