What impact is climate change having for the poorest people of the world?
Within the Pacific region, people living in low-lying islands and river deltas are already experiencing the negative results of climate change, including rising seas and salt water inundation. This contributes to crop losses, destruction of fresh water sources and flooding. The nation of Kiribati faces the prospect of disappearing completely, as do other low-lying islands in the Pacific, including those in Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, and the Marshall Islands. In Uganda, the unpredictable weather patterns mean farmers are gambling when to sow seeds, risking having them washed away by torrential rains or dry up in drought. In Bangladesh, rising flood levels are washing away crops and homes and the salinisation of the land is making it harder to grow crops and water unsafe to drink. For more examples, stories and images visit: http://wordsandpictures.oxfam.org.uk/ and type in climatechange08 in both the username and password boxes. Why is the UN meeting in Poland important? The UN Climate C
