Poor people more vulnerable to climate change

Hyderabad, Sep 19 (UNI) One billion poor people in the world are vulnerable to climate change and desertification.

In a statement here today, ICRISAT Director General William Dar said India accounted for 25.93 per cent of this population and China 16.66 per cent, while Asia and Pacific accounted for 18.30 per cent.

Mr Dar, who is also the Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), said the poor can be made less vulnerable with scientific and knowledge-based interventionism and significant support from the developed and developing countries for researches in this direction.

''Business as usual will not help us to meet the millennium development goals and reduce poverty by half by 2015,'' he said.

Many parts of the world were already showing signs of water scarcity. With increasing demands from other sectors, the availability of water for agriculture would become limited.

''The nexus of climate change and desertification combined with land degradation, loss of biodiversity and shortage of water and fossil fuels will make the investement made riskier for the dryland farmers,'' Mr Dar said.

UNI