Female farmers, poor people, and older populations are the
most affected by climate change, and their needs require targeted measures, the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) highlighted in a report published on
Tuesday.
The study, titled "Unjust Climate," reveals that
certain social groups are disproportionately affected by climate-related income
disparities due to unequal capacities to adapt to extreme weather. Conducted
over two years by a team of eight experts and various consultants, the report
collected socio-economic data from 109,000 rural households in 24 low and
middle-income countries, representing over 950 million people.
According to the study, if average temperatures were to
increase by just 1 degree Celsius, rural women would face a 34 percent greater
loss in their total incomes compared to men.
As for poor households, rising temperature renders them more
dependent on climate-sensitive agriculture, and with floods, they would lose
4.4 percent of their total compared to non-poor households on average.
The findings, categorized by gender, wealth and age, aim to
guide countries in developing tailored responses to address the diverse needs
of affected groups.
"Our hope is that we will start taking into more
consideration the differences in the vulnerability of people, because
vulnerabilities are not the same for all, and they need different types of
support," FAO senior economist and report's lead author Nicholas Sitko
told Xinhua.
