Climate change and Poverty are deeply inter linked with one another but on surface both of these concepts serve a very different meaning that we usually find them not related at a first glance.
What does these words mean indifferent to each other?
Climate change is a phenomenon that occurs with the abnormal change in the weather cycle, be it uneven summers, winters or anything. It is in general causes by global warming which is a result of human interference with the natural world with the over usage of resources or exploitation of the same.
Poverty on the other hand the is the living condition. It defines a condition of living in which the income of a certain person or a group or community is too low for meeting the basic human need that is food, shelter and clothes. It is socio economic condition that separates a person from the general public and puts them in a condition in which the general need items are hard to acquire because of the declined financial sustainment.
So how are these two related?
With constant struggle to provide oneself with food, shelter and other basic items, just think how disastrously a changing environment will affect someone. Climate change causes some unforeseen weather conditions and with every day passing by, the possibility of identifying a threat is shrinking almost to the level that an unpredicted natural threat can occur and nobody would know beforehand.
More than 1.3 billion people live on deteriorating decomposing agricultural land, putting them at risk of depleted harvests that can lead to worsening hunger, poverty and displacement. There is no hiding that climate change or natural disasters affects different economic groups differently. With increasing threat of changing climate every day, the rich have a backup option that would serve in the need but the poor will have to depend and they cannot escape the consequences. When cyclone Nivar struck southern India with severe impact in Tamil Nadu. The after effects of that is what we should consider. More than 2500 huts were destroyed, leaving behind the poor with no means to stand backup on their feet.
The climate change affects everyone in different ways, but the most impacted group of people are the ones who are under poverty, the people who are living under a daily wage system and some who are not earning at all.
Some basic known threats to people under poverty can be as follows:
Leaving behind farm land. For many farmers who do their farming individually, farm land is the most important asset. With increasing climate change, the soil erosion or draughts are pretty common which causes infertility of land and thus they had to leave behind that land or to sell it off. This puts up the leverage of stable income and thus creating a situation to be depending on daily incomes.
Threat of livelihood. Most of the people who lie under poverty cannot afford a roof on their heads, they are forced to live in huts or kacha houses which are not well constructed. Thus occurrence of any natural calamity would cause a great disaster which can lead to destruction of the property and things owned by these people.
Water and food shortage. You can imagine how hard it would be to provide for food and water when the income is limited and limited to an extent that these people are considered to be living under poverty. With every coming disaster, the living condition worsen. Food and water shortage creates one really difficult living condition. Droughts intensified by climate change are putting immense pressure on the world’s freshwater supplies. Already, 1 in 4 people around the world face dire water shortages. By 2050, it’s predicted, as many as 50% of people could face water shortages.
The fight against poverty and climate change can only be solved with joint efforts of all of the people. With climate change be the cause of most the problem, this phenomenon is certainly man made and harm us only because of us being inconsiderate towards the environment around us. Donate to any shelter and food providing NGOs near you and try to volunteer and help in any way possible and I can’t leave without saying that we all should be held responsible for our ignorance towards the environment and should help improve it little by little.
