Population, Poverty, and Climate Change
The literature is reviewed on the relationships between population, poverty, and climate change. While developed countries are largely responsible for global warming, the brunt of the fallout will be borne by the developing world, in lower agricult...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/10/18338481/population-poverty-climate-change http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16848 |
| Summary: | The literature is reviewed on the
relationships between population, poverty, and climate
change. While developed countries are largely responsible
for global warming, the brunt of the fallout will be borne
by the developing world, in lower agricultural output,
poorer health, and more frequent natural disasters. Carbon
emissions in the developed world have leveled off, but are
projected to rise rapidly in the developing world due to
their economic growth and population growth -- the latter
most notably in the poorest countries. Lowering fertility
has many benefits for the poorest countries. Studies
indicate that, in high fertility settings, fertility decline
facilitates economic growth and poverty reduction. It also
reduces the pressure on livelihoods, and frees up resources
to cope with climate change. And it helps avert some of the
projected global warming, which will benefit these countries
far more than those that lie at higher latitudes and/or have
more resources to cope with climate change. Natural
experiments indicate that family planning programs are
effective in helping reduce fertility, and that they are
highly pro-poor in their impact. While the rest of the world
wrestles with the complexities of reducing emissions, the
poorest countries will gain much from simple programs to
lower fertility. |
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