The Role of Inequality in Climate-Poverty Debates

There is no doubt that the poorest people are already and will continue to be most severely impacted by climatic changes, including shifting trends as well as more frequent and severe extreme events. Yet, new insights on the dynamics and distributi...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Tschakert, Petra
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2016
Subjects:	SANITATION SOCIAL POLICIES RISKS ALTITUDE AGRICULTURAL GROWTH POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY LINE BASES SOCIAL FUNDS ECONOMIC GROWTH TEMPERATURE RISK REDUCTION POLITICS ILLITERACY INCOME POVERTY FOOD CONSUMPTION FLOURISHES CROPLAND INCOME POVERTY INDICES POVERTY RATES AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION CONVERGENCE EMISSIONS INCOME TRANSFERS ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS POLITICAL ECONOMY DEATH HUMAN ASSETS RURAL LIVELIHOODS FOOD STAMPS PRIVATE SAFETY NETS POVERTY DYNAMICS INCENTIVES LAND SCARCITY NATIONAL POVERTY POOR PEOPLE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE CONFLICT MEASURES POVERTY MEASURES PESTICIDES HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS HURRICANES TRANSIENT POOR SAFETY NETS NEW POOR HOUSEHOLD INCOME GENDER DIMENSIONS RURAL ELITES TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE RURAL HOUSEHOLD IRON RURAL HOUSEHOLDS CASH CROPS FOOD PRICE FOOD PREPARATION CAPACITY INCOME INEQUALITY SOIL EROSION CROP ROTATION TRANSFERS RAINFALL LAND DEGRADATION SURFACE TEMPERATURE CHRONIC POVERTY GLACIERS CLIMATE CHANGE ECONOMIC POLICIES FARMERS PRECIPITATION CASH TRANSFERS LAND TITLES CROP YIELDS HUMAN CAPITAL FROST FARMLAND LEAD POVERTY ERADICATION FOOD INSECURITY FOOD SECURITY POVERTY INDEX IPCC DROUGHT HIGHER INEQUALITY POVERTY‐REDUCTION ELECTRICITY RURAL GROWTH CLIMATE POOR COUNTRIES FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS GREEN AREAS CLIMATE SYSTEM RURAL SETTINGS ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY DISADVANTAGED GROUPS MALNUTRITION RURAL INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY ASSET POVERTY NUTRITION PUBLIC WORKS RURAL EMPLOYMENT RECIPROCITY COMMON PROPERTY RURAL REGIONS INSURANCE HUMAN HEALTH HIGH INEQUALITY AGRARIAN REFORM CLIMATIC CHANGE POVERTY‐REDUCTION STRATEGIES DRINKING WATER IRRIGATION RECIPROCAL GIFTS RURAL AREAS POVERTY INCIDENCE OF POVERTY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY RISK MANAGEMENT POOR FOOD PRICES RURAL DEVELOPMENT LAND MANAGEMENT PRICES POVERTY ALLEVIATION BENEFITS NEGATIVE IMPACTS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INEQUALITY POOR HOUSEHOLDS Shock Waves
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/05/26377965/role-inequality-climate-poverty-debates http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24515

Description
Summary:	There is no doubt that the poorest people are already and will continue to be most severely impacted by climatic changes, including shifting trends as well as more frequent and severe extreme events. Yet, new insights on the dynamics and distribution of poverty point to the need to comprehend where the poor and poorest are, how they are poor, and why their poverty constrains their abilities to cope with and adapt to occurring and predicted changes. This paper draws on a diverse and growing literature on climate change and poverty to argue that uneven power relations more so than exposure and sensitivity to climatic hazards make the poor and disadvantaged distinctly more vulnerable than more affluent, privileged, and powerful groups and individuals. Further, climatic stressors and climate change as well as climate policies, often entangled with social exclusion and institutional neglect, compound the issue of poverty and exacerbate human precariousness, hence acting as a threat multiplier. The paper compares different approaches to assessing poverty, and explores structural processes and power dynamics that drive or perpetuate inequalities. The paper also investigates how the currently nonpoor may become transient or chronic poor, how climate change may exacerbate poverty traps, and how interventions to curb emissions and multidimensional poverty may be tackled to pursue climate-resilient development pathways.

The Role of Inequality in Climate-Poverty Debates

Similar Items