Oxfam: Climate change could leave 75 million homeless

In the midst of a three-day meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh 21 of the poorest countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific who are trying to draft a climate change declaration received ominous news.

Oxfam Australia says that climate change could leave up to 75 million people in the Asia-Pacific region homeless by 2050. The Future is Here: Climate Change says that these island nations are already suffering from drought, food shortages and rising water levels.

“People are already leaving their homes because of climate change, with projections that 75 million people in the Asia-Pacific region will be forced to relocate by 2050 if climate change continues unabated," says Oxfam Australia Executive Director Andrew Hewett. "Not all will have the option of relocating within their own country, so it’s vital that the Australian Government starts working with Pacific governments to plan for this now.”

The Australian government which has committed $150 million to help islanders adapt to climate change will host the Pacific Islands Forum next week where climate change talks are expected to dominate the proceedings. Hewett adds that Australia needs to show leadership at the meetings and that it is willing to do its fair share to mitigate climate change in the region.

To meet existing needs in the region Oxfam says that Australia should immediately double its financial commitment to $300 million and cut its emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels.

The report details how nations at risk have already begun to adapt. In Micronesia and parts of the Solomon Islands villagers have been forced to move to higher ground. Mangroves and native grasses have been planted on Fiji in an effort to abate coastal erosion. Other measures have been put in place to protect Fijian food staples and water supply.

In Dhaka, the Bangladesh minister for environment and forests, Mostafizur Rahman said, "It is a matter of life and death for us." The countries attending the Dhaka conference are low carbon emitters who suffer disproportionate to their carbon footprint. By speaking with one voice these vulnerable nations hope to be heard during the Copenhagen round of climate change talks in December.

Green Prosperity: Creating Pathways out of Poverty

Can a clean energy economy benefit low income people?

A new study prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) University of Massachusetts, Amherst states that an investment of $150 billion per year in the green economy will create 1.7 million net new jobs.

This investment in green jobs is seven times more than the number of employment opportunities that would be created if the spending was earmarked for the fossil fuel sector.

Of special note to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Green For All, who commissioned the study entitled, Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standards in the United States is that clean energy investment job opportunities reach across all education and skill levels and help create pathways out of poverty. Approximately 870,000 of the newly available jobs would be accessible to workers with high school degrees or less and result in a one percent drop in the unemployment rate.

Opportunities For All
In building a green energy program the living standards of 78 million Americans would be improved. The three-pronged approach to this program should focus on: expanding employment opportunities; building retrofits; and public transportation.

The study uses wind energy as an example of new employment opportunities that cross all skill levels. "wind farms create jobs for sheet metal workers, machinists and truck drivers, among many others. Some of these workers will have received some college education, while other occupations will require less formal education. Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings through retrofitting requires roofers, insulators and architects — again, jobs that entail different levels of formal educational requirements. Expanding mass transit systems employs civil engineers, electricians, dispatchers and bus drivers."

Training and Infrastructure
Jobs created by clean-energy investments should also offer training programs to assist in career advancement. Newly employed low-income workers will see new opportunities to lift themselves and their families out of poverty and raise earnings by about 2 percent. Energy efficiency retrofits for living accommodations and infrastructure improvements in public transportation would also represent a 10 percent reduction in total expenditures for these families.

The study also debunks the misconception that green policies are detrimental to the poor. The authors write, "We show that, to the contrary, with effective policies in place, investing in clean energy can provide significant new opportunities at all levels of the U.S. economy, and especially for families who are poor or near-poor."

By focusing on: increased energy efficiency; lowering the cost of renewable energy and; limiting fossil fuel pollution the study believes that within a generation the United States can transform from a fossil-fuel driven economy into a clean-energy economy.