December 3, 2010

Source: Free Republic

Written by Karl Burkart There’s no doubt United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change delegates are feeling a great deal of pressure to make some tangible progress here at the COP16 climate conference in Cancun.

But that pressure may be ratcheted up a notch after the Dec. 3 release of the Climate Vulnerability Monitor, the first definitive study of the impacts of climate change on human health. The report was prepared by DARA, a leading humanitarian research organization in conjunction with the CVF (Climate Vulnerable Forum) an alliance of 11 nations* that are experiencing the most direct impacts of climate change…..

Not surprisingly, most of those impacted will be children and women in the poorest parts of the world. The data charts provided in the report reveal a tragic irony — the countries that pollute the most are affected the least….

Africa starts out worse, and gets far worse with mortality doubling while habitat and economic losses quadruple. DARA director Ross Mountain tries to put these findings in perspective: If we let pressures more than triple, or worse, no amount of humanitarian assistance or development aid is going to stem the suffering and devastation. Highly fragile countries will become graveyards over which we pour billions of dollars….

The report, though sobering, does end on a brighter note with 50 measures that governments can begin implementing right now to stave off the worst impacts predicted by the Climate Vulnerability Monitor.

The 11 nations are Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Kiribati, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Tanzania, Vietnam and Maldives. Karl Burkart blogs for the Mother Nature Network.