Report launch: the geography of poverty, disasters and climate extremes in 2030

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the UK Met Office, and Risk Management Solutions would like to invite you to the launch of a joint report titled ‘The Geography of Poverty, Disasters and Climate Extremes in 2030’.

This public event will be chaired by Dr. Andrew Norton, Director of Research at ODI with discussants including: Ms. Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction; Professor Julia Slingo OBE, Chief Scientist, UK Met Office and Professor Barry Hughes, Director, Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures, Josef Korbel School of International Studies. The report will be presented by Dr. Tom Mitchell, Head of Climate Change, ODI.

Background context to the report launch:

Climate change and exposure to ‘natural’ disasters threaten to derail international efforts to eradicate poverty by 2030. As temperatures warm, many of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens will face increased risks associated with more intense or protracted droughts, extreme rainfall and heat waves.

The UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel (HLP) on Post-2015 Development Goals has already made a suggestion of placing a target on building resilience and reducing disaster deaths under the first goal on ending poverty in the post-2015 development framework, highlighting the impoverishing effects of disasters. After all, it is well known that disasters have a distinct geography, that poverty is concentrated in particular parts of the world and that climate change is having an impact on extremes of heat, rainfall and droughts in many regions. But how will these patterns overlap in 2030, and how serious is the threat of disasters and climate change to the prospect of eliminating extreme poverty in the next two decades?

This report, The Geography of Poverty, Disasters and Climate Extremes in 2030, examines the relationship between disasters and poverty. It concludes that, by 2030, up to 325 million extremely poor people could be living in areas most exposed to multiple hazards if dedicated action is not taken. It maps where poor people are likely to live and it develops a range of scenarios aimed at identifying potential patterns of vulnerability to extreme weather and earthquakes. These scenarios are dynamic. They consider how threats may change, which countries face the greatest risk and what the role disaster risk management plays. If the international community is serious about the eradication of poverty by 2030, it needs to address the issues covered in this report and get far more serious about putting disaster risk management at the heart of poverty eradication efforts.