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UN/DESA Policy Brief #45: The nexus between climate change and inequalities
Climate change and inequality are two of the most important challenges currently faced by the international community. An extensive review of the evidence in the World Economic and Social Survey 2016: climate change resilience, an opportunity for reducing inequalities suggests that the impacts of climate change and structural inequalities are locked in a vicious cycle. Large inequalities in access to physical and financial assets; unequal access to quality health services, education and employment; and inequality with respect to voice and political representation aggravate the exposure and vulnerability of large population groups to climate hazards. Better understanding of the links between climate change impacts and inequalities will help to improve the design and implementation of policies able to simultaneously address climate change hazards and socioeconomic inequalities.
UN/DESA Policy Brief #44: Building climate change resilience for sustainable development
Climate change is already imposing a significant burden on all countries, extreme in some cases. Several small-island developing States are facing the realistic risk of becoming completely submerged under water due to sea-level rise. Severe drought and shortage of water are endangering livelihoods around the world and, the warming of surface temperatures and changing weather patterns and threatening human lives. Warming has contributed to the change in vegetation and distribution of fish species at the global level, and to the spread of vector-borne diseases to wider areas. People living in coastal zones are facing greater risks of floods and storm surges and people living in mountainous areas are becoming more exposed to the risk of landslides and soil erosion. No one is immune to climate change, but the economic cost and the magnitude in which it affects human lives and livelihoods vary among countries, among communities within countries and even among people within communities.