User:Taibailey/Climate change and poverty

The work provided effectively acknowledges the strengths of the passage, particularly its comprehensive analysis of climate change impacts and critical examination of data uncertainties. It also offers constructive suggestions for improvement, such as incorporating specific examples from the text and providing actionable recommendations for addressing identified challenges. Overall, the feedback is good as it balances recognition of strengths with constructive feedback for enhancement.

Data Input Reliability

The World Bank's analysis indicates that climate change will significantly affect poverty eradication efforts by 2030. However, due to the limited or inconclusive data used for key factor estimates, there is considerable uncertainty regarding these impacts. Therefore, we should approach the reported impact figure of 131.5 million with caution.

Challenges related to the dependability and accessibility of household survey data result in, uncertain or absent poverty estimates for certain countries, even in present times. Inadequate national statistical systems, are unable to conduct thorough and timely data collection, leading to household surveys covering only restricted areas or being entirely omitted. This is particularly prevalent in regions facing prolonged humanitarian crises or conflicts.

Even when household surveys are undertaken, they fall short as a comprehensive method for assessing poverty. They notably overlook intrahousehold inequalities and frequently fail to capture marginalized individuals. Consequently, household surveys conceal individual deprivations and ultimately fail to encompass all impoverished individuals. Efforts to address these gaps with available data result in estimates with high levels of uncertainty.

Global-level projections usually highlight the planetary scale at which climate change is contributing to poverty. They are of little help when it comes to actually identifying localized or even broad measures that take into consideration a community's climate vulnerabilities but cannot be reached only by using global estimates. There are needs to be met and the proper data collective measure would aid in better resource allocation and investments, particularly in regions facing protracted crises.

Effects of Drought

People are being displaced by drier phenomena as well. In recent years farmers across sub-Saharan Africa have been compelled to desert their fields because of severe droughts. Concurrently, escalating temperatures are pushing an undisclosed number of individuals out of their homes. The influx of refugees from Central America to the United States of America has also increased, partly due to rising temperatures and droughts displacing farmers from their lands. Adding to the predicament, global antipathy towards migrants and refugees is on the rise, a situation that could worsen the count of those displaced by environmental conditions.

Global hunger increased in 2019 for the first time in years. After years of ruined agricultural output by severe drought, the sub-Saharan was notable for having the sharpest increase in hunger. In Zimbabwe, over 7 million people are in need of food assistance. The harvest in 2019, was half the size of the previous year, and the 2020 harvest was said to be on track to be similarly diminished. In Southern Africa, more than 45 million people are experiencing food shortages. Crop yields fluctuate annually due to limited resources.

Drought in Portugal

In recent years, major cities such as São Paulo and Cape Town have faced near-total depletion of their water reserves, providing a glimpse of a future where strict water rationing will be an everyday thing. In Cape Town, the local water authority hired 'water police' to patrol the neighbourhoods and enforce strict laws on water conservation.

Regional security is one of the important challenges that are also caused by water scarcity in different parts of the world. For instance, some people blame the Syrian crisis on an unrelenting drought which forced rural inhabitants to migrate to urban areas to secure employment. The migration of people from their homes in addition to the lack of economic activities acted as a catalyst for mass protests and later led to the outbreak of war.

File:Crackedearth brazil.jpg

Brazil

Climate Policy

Implementing an emission tax or employing a cap-and-trade system are two ways policies can be used to establish a cost for Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. With an emission tax, the cost to polluters rises directly, while a cap-and-trade system requires polluters to purchase expensive permits to emit greenhouse gases.

There are two primary benefits to pricing GHG emissions. Firstly, by increasing the cost of carbon-based energy, individuals and businesses are encouraged to economize. This leads to gradually replacing large vehicles with smaller ones and promotes the adoption of carpooling and public transportation. Additionally, the higher energy prices are swiftly reflected in electricity bills, providing individuals with a clear incentive to explore methods for reducing energy consumption within their homes.

The second benefit of implementing a price on GHG emissions is its ability to increase the relative cost of carbon-based energy, thus making cleaner energy sources more competitive. If a GHG emissions tax were introduced, raising the price of electricity to 16 cents per kilowatt hour, these cleaner energy sources might become economically viable, even without any technological advancements. By incorporating the cost of GHG emissions into the price of carbon-based energy, which better accounts for the relevant external costs, cleaner energy producers can more effectively enter the market and compete.

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