Expert Warns of “Climate Apartheid” between Rich and Poor

According to BBC, a United Nations expert has warned of a possible “climate apartheid,” where the rich will have to pay to escape from hunger, “while the rest of the world is left to suffer”.

Philip Alston, who is a UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty has said that “even if current targets are met, millions will be impoverished.” He also criticized steps taken by UN bodies as “patently inadequate”, warning that “ticking boxes will not save humanity or the planet from impending disaster”.

Alston, who is one of the UN’s panel of independent experts warns that “the world’s poor are likely to be hardest hit by rising temperatures – and the potential food shortages and conflict that could accompany such a change.”

In a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, Philip Alston stated that developing nations are expected to suffer at least 75% of the costs of climate change – despite the fact that the poorer half of the world’s population generate just 10% of emissions.

He says that “those who have contributed the least to emissions… will be the most harmed,” while warning that the effects could “undo 50 years of progress on poverty reduction”.

He added that the “over-reliance” on the private sector would likely lead to what he termed “climate apartheid” – where the rich “escape overheating, hunger, and conflict”.

Proposing solution to this impending disaster, Alston wrote:

“The Human Rights Council can no longer afford to rely only on the time-honoured techniques of organizing expert panels, calling for reports that lead nowhere, urging others to do more but doing little itself, and adopting wide-ranging but inconclusive and highly aspirational resolutions, instead, it must commission an urgent expert study on the possible options available to avert disaster, and “propose and monitor specific actions.”

Photo Credit: NASA