People in a Changing Climate

Why in News?

The World Bank Group’s report "People in a Changing Climate" was launched at the COP29 in November 2024.

CCDR - Country Climate and Development Reports was launched in 2022 by World Bank.
Objective - To guide countries in aligning developmental processes with climate action.
They help countries prioritize the most impactful actions that can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and boost adaptation and resilience, while delivering on broader development goals.
Coverage - It covers 72 low-, middle- and high-income countries and economies.
Stakeholders - CCDRs unite stakeholders, including governments, private sectors and citizens, to advance climate and development goals.
Final Report - Based on the CCDRs of 72 countries, World Bank prepares a consolidated report.
- The report for 2024 is “ People in a Changing Climate”.

Resilience and adaptation - Ending poverty on a livable planet requires all countries to enhance the resilience and adaptation of their people and economies to the impacts of climate change.
People centric - People are at the center of climate change risks, but also at the core of adaptation and mitigation solutions.
Disproportionate impact - Poorer countries are more vulnerable than richer ones, are exposed to different threats, and have lower adaptation potential.

Each additional $1,000 in GDP per capita reduces expected climate change-induced GDP losses in 2050 by 0.5–0.7 % points.

Productivity loss - Significant labour productivity losses happens due to rising temperatures.

Inadequate investment - There is a high need for investment in the water sector, but current investments are much lower that what is required.

In most of the CCDR countries, the investment in water sector was found to be only 0.5 % of their GDPs.

Effect of investment in water sector - An investment of $1.8 trillion in the water sector would result in estimated benefits worth $7.1 trillion between 2020 and 2030.
PPP investment - Bridging the $960 billion annual investment gap requires public-private partnerships, especially in low-income nations.

Climate change and water - Climate change affects the availability of water and leads to extreme events such as droughts and floods.
Impact of drought - During droughts, agriculture, energy production, food security are impacted.
These lead to migration and malnutrition, especially in low-income countries.
Impact of flood - Flood situations lead to loss of lives, water-borne diseases, displacement of people and infrastructural damage.
Impact on economy - Both of these situations deal a blow to the economy of affected countries, with a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups.

Malawi - Drought will lead the people to fall below poverty line by 14 %.
Ghana – It would lose its hydropower generation capacity by 8-30 % by 2040.
Armenia – It would face a decline in rainfed crop yields by 2050.
Argentina – It would incur losses of $2.1 billion (0.6 % of GDP) due to decline in agricultural production.
South Africa and Lebanon – They would record a drop in agricultural production and farming jobs.
Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe - Water borne diseases will become more common by 2040 and 2050 respectively.

Enact policies focused on people, resilient infrastructure and macroeconomic strategies to reduce vulnerabilities.
Foster green value chains, and support sustainable transitions with global collaboration.
Create country-specific solutions for boosting water resources management and building climate resilience.
Increase investment water resources management and bringing in reforms in institutional regulatory sectors.
Invest in social intervention to protect the vulnerable.
Demand-side management of water for sustainability and risk mitigation.
Improve water security through wastewater management and promoting circularity
Invest and focus on performance monitoring systems in wastewater treatment plants

water related recommendations

References