Happen to read this report on Newyork Times by UN warning Climate related setbacks, thanks to rich nations.
A new United Nations report warns that progress toward prosperity in the world’s poorest regions will be reversed unless rich countries promptly begin curbing emissions linked to global warming while also helping poorer ones leapfrog to energy sources that pollute less than coal and oil.
The world’s poorest regions will also need much more help than has been provided to adapt to climate changes that are already unfolding, said the authors of the study, the United Nations’ annual Human Development Report.
The report’s focus on climate and its release date — one week before international talks begin in Bali to shape a new international climate pact — reflect a top goal set by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: prodding world leaders to act more swiftly on global warming.
Released yesterday in Brasília and online at hdr.undp.org/en/, the report builds on findings of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier in the year showing that poor countries face outsize risks in a warming world.
It also offers a more detailed view of how poverty, particularly in areas near the Equator, creates zones of extreme vulnerability to water shortages, droughts, flooding rains and severe storms — all of which are projected to be more frequent or intense if concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to build.
Follow the link to read the complete article - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/world/28climate.html?ref=environment
