http://in.news.yahoo.com/100-mln-die-2030-world-fails-act-climate-095505632.html
By Nina Chestney | Reuters – 9 hours ago
LONDON (Reuters) – More than 100 million people will die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday.
As global average temperatures rise due to greenhouse gas emissions, the effects on the planet, such as melting ice caps, extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, will threaten populations and livelihoods, said the report conducted by humanitarian organisation DARA.
It calculated that five million deaths occur each year from air pollution, hunger and disease as a result of climate change and carbon-intensive economies, and that toll would likely rise to six million a year by 2030 if current patterns of fossil fuel use continue.
More than 90 percent of those deaths will occur in developing countries, said the report that calculated the human and economic impact of climate change on 184 countries in 2010 and 2030. It was commissioned by the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a partnership of 20 developing countries threatened by climate change.
“A combined climate-carbon crisis is estimated to claim 100 million lives between now and the end of the next decade,” the report said.
It said the effects of climate change had lowered global output by 1.6 percent of world GDP, or by about $1.2 trillion a year, and losses could double to 3.2 percent of global GDP by 2030 if global temperatures are allowed to rise, surpassing 10 percent before 2100.
It estimated the cost of moving the world to a low-carbon economy at about 0.5 percent of GDP this decade.
COUNTING THE COST
Responding to the report, Oxfam International said the costs of political inaction on climate were “staggering”.
“The losses to agriculture and fisheries alone could amount to more than $500 billion per year by 2030, heavily focussed in the poorest countries where millions depend on these sectors to make a living,” said executive director Jeremy Hobbs.
British economist Nicholas Stern told Reuters earlier this year investment equivalent to 2 percent of global GDP was needed to limit, prevent and adapt to climate change.
His report on the economics of climate change in 2006 said that without any action to tackle climate change, the overall costs and risks of climate change would be equivalent to a cut in per-capita consumption of perhaps up to 20 percent.
Temperatures have already risen by about 0.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. Almost 200 nations agreed in 2010 to limit the global average temperature rise to below 2C (3.6 Fahrenheit) to avoid dangerous impacts from climate change.
But climate scientists have warned that the chance of limiting the rise to below 2C is getting smaller as global greenhouse gas emissions rise due to burning fossil fuels.
The world’s poorest nations are the most vulnerable as they face increased risk of drought, water shortages, crop failure, poverty and disease. On average, they could see an 11 percent loss in GDP by 2030 due to climate change, DARA said.
“One degree Celsius rise in temperature is associated with 10 percent productivity loss in farming. For us, it means losing about 4 million metric tonnes of food grain, amounting to about $2.5 billion. That is about 2 percent of our GDP,” Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in response to the report.
“Adding up the damages to property and other losses, we are faced with a total loss of about 3-4 percent of GDP.”
Even the biggest and most rapidly developing economies will not escape unscathed. The United States and China could see a 2.1 percent reduction in their respective GDPs by 2030, while India could experience a more than 5 percent loss.
The full report is available at: http://daraint.org/ (Editing by Janet Lawrence)
A view of the 
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A view of the City of Arts and Sciences. Years of free spending, coupled with a hangover from a burst 
The Agora building at the City of Arts and Sciences. The building’s cost escalated up to 86 million euros, according to local media. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis)
A view of the University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe is seen in Valencia April 25, 2012. The complex’s cost escalated up to 300 million euros. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis)
A building of the 
The control tower of the Costa Azahar airport is seen, one year after its official inauguration, near Castellon, in this April 24, 2012 file photo. The airport, whose cost escalated up to around 150 million euros, remains inactive due to construction failures, lack of permits and insufficient commercial interest from international airlines, according to local media. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis/Files)
Apartments for sale are seen, beside an unfinished block (back), in Valencia. The building sector’s implosion has forced into the open allegations that corrupt Valencian politicians, developers and bankers were in cahoots during a decade of easy money at low interest rates after Spain joined the euro in 1999. (REUTERS/Heino Kalis)
Thousands of Spaniards are protesting against austerity measures that politicians have proposed to ease the country’s economic crisis. (Left) A woman passes as police officers stand guard at Paseo de Gracia in the city centre as the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting is held at the Hotel Arts on May 3, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images).
Click on Next to see images of daily life in Spain and public demonstrations across the country over the past year, protesting against the government’s spending cuts, labour market reforms, recession and overall economic crisis. (Image: Reuters)
People wait at a bus stop in front of an Asian shop after shopping in downtown Malaga, southern Spain May 4, 2012. The euro zone economy worsened markedly in April, according to business surveys. (REUTERS/Jon Nazca)
A homeless man walks at the financial district in Madrid April 19, 2012. France and Spain sold all the bonds they wanted at auction, though for Spain the cost was rising yields, indicating growing concerns the government will not be able to tame its deficit. After a brief respite fuelled by a trillion euros of cash the European Central Bank (ECB) lent Europe’s banks in December and February, markets are becoming nervous again about euro zone debt loads, with fears that Spain might follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout from international lenders. (REUTERS/Andrea Comas)
An unemployed man, Enrique, writes poems in return for a cash handout on the eve of the Spanish general elections on November 19, 2011 in the center of Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Thousand of ‘indignants’ hold banners and shout slogans against the Euro zone leaders’s agreed ‘Pact For The Euro’ on June 19, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. Thousands of Spaniards joined marches across Spain to protest against how the country’s economic crisis is being handled and the so-called “Euro Pact”, aimed at increasing the bloc’s competitiveness and economic stability. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
People queue up outside the Ave Maria charity food centre on November 9, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. Poor people and homeless are given a free breakfast at the centre run by the Fundacion Real Congregacion de Esclavos del Dulce Nombre de Maria. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
A protester, wearing an anonymous mask, protests after being prevented by police from gathering in Puerta del Sol square on August 2, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. The indignants were protesting high levels of unemployment, the austerity measures and what they consider a stagnant and corrupt political system. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
A demonstrators sets fire to a barricade during rioting as a 24-hour strike is called, on March 29, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Spanish workers staged a general strike to protest the government’s latest labour reforms, which are designed to help Spain lower its deficit within EU limits. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
Riot police walk past burning garbage containers during heavy clashes with demonstrators during a 24-hour strike on March 29, 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
People attend a demonstration organized by Unions against the financial cuts in health and education on April 29, 2012 in Madrid. Trade Unions CCOO and UGT called for a demonstration against the severe austerity plans of the Spanish government. In April, unemployment reached a record rate and the government has announced that immigrants with no legal status will not be covered by the health public services. The government aims to get the deficit down to 5.3 percent this year and 3.0 percent in 2013. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN – APRIL 29: A girl carries a vuvuzela during a demonstration organized by Unions against the financial cuts in health and education on April 29, 2012 in Madrid. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
