U.N.: World Faces ‘Climate Apartheid’ with 120 Million More in Poverty

There is no shortage of alarm bells ringing over climate change – UN expert

New York, N.Y. Climate change “threatens to undo the last 50 years” of development, global health and poverty reduction, a United Nations expert said on Tuesday, citing the risk of a new era of “climate apartheid” where the rich buy their way out of rising heat and hunger.

Two young men walk in the flooded Shibaburi area of Pemba after heavy rains

poured down in the Pemba region of Mozambique. UNICEF/Wikus De Wet.

“Even if current targets are met, tens of millions will be impoverished, leading to widespread displacement and hunger,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston.

Underscoring that climate change will have the greatest impact on the most vulnerable, he added that “it could push more than 120 million more people into poverty by 2030 and will have the most severe impact in poor countries, regions, and the places poor people live and work.”