Global warming a bigger threat to poor

Global warming threatens to reverse human progress, and make unachievable all UN targets to reduce poverty(联合国所有减少贫穷的目标), according to some of the world's leading international and development groups.

In a report published today, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Christian¹ Aid, Friends of the Earth, WWF(英国牛津救济委员会、“绿色和平”组织、基督徒互援会、“地球之友”组织、世界野生动物基金组织) and 15 other groups say rich governments must immediately address(致力于) climate change to avoid even "obscene levels(无法忍受的程度)" of worldwide poverty.

"Food production, water supplies, public health and people's livelihoods² are already being damaged and undermined," the report says. "There is no either/or approach possible(想找一个‘非此即彼'的办法是不可能的). The world must meet its commitments to achieve poverty reduction and also tackle climate change. The two are inextricably linked(二者的联系是难解难分的)."

The report, which draws on UN predictions of the effects of climate change in poor countries over the next 50 years, says poor countries will experience more flooding, declining food production, more disease and the deterioration³ or extinction⁴ of entire ecosystems(整个生态系统的退化甚至消失) on which many of the world's poorest people depend.

"Climate change needs to be addressed now. The poor will bear the brunt of the impacts. The frontline experience of many of us working in international development indicates that communities are having to combat more extreme weather conditions."

Climate change will play havoc⁵（大范围的破坏；浩劫） with agriculture and water supplies and will increase diseases. "By 2025 the proportion of the world's population living in countries of significant water stress will almost double, to 6 billion people. Tropical and sub-tropical areas will be hardest hit - those countries already suffering from food insecurity(食品短缺)".

Poor communities mostly do not need hi-tech solutions, but would most benefit from education, research and being shown how to farm better. The report says unchecked global warming(尚未得到抑制的全球变暖), more than wars or political upheaval(政变), will displace millions of people and destabilise many countries.