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Minorities worst hit by climate change
Source: ENN,Reuters, Date: , 2009
Minorities and indigenous people
frequently bear the brunt of the ravages of climate change but
also often come last on the aid list because they are on the
margins of society.
Some are even the victims of efforts to tackle global
warming such as clearing tracts of land and forest for growing biofuels according to "State of the World's Minorities 2008"
report from Minority Rights Group International (MRG). "Climate change has finally made it to the top of the
international agenda at every level but...recognition of the
acute difficulties that minorities face is often missing," said
MRG's policy chief Ishbel Matheson.
"From the immediate aftermath of a disaster to the point of
designing policy on climate change -- the unique situation of
minority and indigenous groups is rarely considered."
Scientists say global average temperatures will rise by
between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to carbon
emissions from burning fossil fuels for power and transport. This will melt ice caps, raise sea levels and cause more
floods, droughts and storms, putting millions of people at
risk. The MRG report said forgotten minority groups often live in
areas rejected by the wealthy because of their riskier
location. Indigenous peoples also often inhabit marginal lands and,
because they depend on nature for their survival, face double
jeopardy from the changing climate which is altering growing
seasons and rainfall patterns, it said. And when disasters hit and relief efforts swing into
action, these same groups are often the worst affected but the
last to be helped, the report said. And any deal struck on deforestation in negotiations to
extend and expand the Kyoto climate change protocol beyond 2012
must be flexible enough to allow indigenous people to carry on
their way of life, the report said. "Not only are minorities and indigenous groups
disproportionately suffering as a result of climate change but
they are affected by what the world sees as solutions to
climate change," Matheson said. The annual report, which this year focuses on the impact of
climate change, said it was high time the poor and marginalized
people of the world were put on the political map.
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