eBook

The poverty and welfare impacts of climate change

Skoufias, Emmanuel

2012

Overview

Over the past century, the world has seen a sustained decline in the proportion of people living in poverty, but climate change could challenge poverty reduction efforts. On the Poverty and Welfare Impacts of Climate Change: Quantifying the Effects, Identifying the Adaptation Strategies surveys the relevant research on how climate change may affect global poverty rates and presents country-specific studies with implications for low-income rural populations as well as governments' risk management programs.An evidence review examines three main strands of the literature. Unsurprisingly, the impacts of climate change are shown to be generally regressive-falling more heavily on the poor than on the rich. However, most estimates have tended to ignore the effect of aggregate economic growth on poverty and household welfare. With continued growth, the evidence suggests that the poverty impact will be relatively modest and will not reverse the major decline in poverty expected over the next 40 years. Sector-specific studies-focusing on how climate change may affect agricultural yields-are generally poor predictors of national-level poverty impacts because of heterogeneity in the ability of households to adapt. That heterogeneity features prominently in studies of how weather shocks affect rural households in Indonesia and Mexico. Erratic deviations from long-term weather patterns affect growing cycles and thereby rural households' consumption (per capita expenditure) and health indicators. In Indonesia, the affected households appeared able to protect food expenditures at the expense of nonfood expenditures, and their access to credit and community public-works projects had the strongest moderating effects. In Mexico, weather shocks affected both food and nonfood consumption in ways that varied by both region and timing. The affected households' ability to smooth consumption depended on factors including proximity to bus stations. In some regions, weather shocks also had measurable stunting effects on the stature of children between 12 and 47 months of age, perhaps from changes in household income, increases in communicable diseases, or both. Overall, more region-specific analyses within more finely tuned climate categories will help researchers to better estimate the effects of climate change on poverty and the effectiveness of government-level strategies to address those effects.This book will be of interest to academics, and decision makers in government and nongovernmental organizations, seeking to design climate-smart poverty alleviation and safety net programs based on evidence.

• Publisher: THE WORLD BANK,World Bank,World Bank Publications,The World Bank,Washington, DC: World Bank
• Subject: ABATEMENT POLICIES / ABSOLUTE POVERTY / AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT / AGRICULTURAL INCOMES / AGRICULTURAL OUTPUT / AGRICULTURAL PRICES / AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY / AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH / AGRICULTURAL SECTOR / AGRICULTURAL YIELDS / ALTITUDE / ARID CLIMATES / Armut / CALCULATION / CAPS / CARBON ENERGY / CASH TRANSFERS / CHANGES IN POVERTY / CHILD MORTALITY / CLIMATE / CLIMATE ACTION / CLIMATE CHANGE / CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS / CLIMATE CHANGES / CLIMATE CONDITIONS / CLIMATE DAMAGE / CLIMATE DAMAGES / CLIMATE EQUILIBRIUM / CLIMATE EXTREMES / CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS / CLIMATE PROJECTIONS / CLIMATE VARIABILITY / CLIMATE-CHANGE SCENARIO / CLIMATE-CHANGE SCENARIOS / CLIMATE-RELATED RISKS / CLIMATES / Climatic changes / Climatic changes -- Social aspects -- Developing countries / CLIMATIC SHOCKS / CLIMATIC VARIABILITY / CLIMATIC VARIATION / CLIMATOLOGISTS / CO2 / COLORS / CONSEQUENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE / CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE / CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE / CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURES / CONSUMPTION IMPACTS / CONSUMPTION PATTERNS / COOLER TEMPERATURES / COPE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE / COUNTERFACTUAL / CREDIT PROGRAMS / Cross-national analysis / DAMAGES / DEGREE DAYS / Developing countries / DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACTS / ECONOMIC ACTIVITY / ECONOMIC GROWTH / Economic impact analysis / ECONOMIC WELFARE / ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE / ECOSYSTEM / EFFECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE / EMISSION / EMISSION ABATEMENT / EMISSION CONTROL / EMISSIONS / EMISSIONS CONTROL / EMISSIONS MITIGATION / EMISSIONS PATH / EMISSIONS SCENARIOS / EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES / ENERGY SOURCES / Entwicklungsländer / ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION / Environmental impact studies / ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION / EXTREME CLIMATE EVENTS / EXTREME DRY / EXTREME EVENTS / EXTREME HEAT / EXTREME HEAT EVENTS / EXTREME POVERTY / EXTREME PRECIPITATION / EXTREME PRECIPITATION EVENTS / EXTREME WEATHER / EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS / EXTREMELY POOR PEOPLE / FARMERS / FINANCIAL SECTOR / FLOODS / FOOD AVAILABILITY / FOOD CONSUMERS / FOOD EXPENDITURES / FOOD POLICY / FOOD PRICE / FOOD PRICES / FOSSIL FUEL / FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE / GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM MODEL / GHG / GLOBAL MEAN TEMPERATURE / GLOBAL POVERTY / GLOBAL WARMING / GREENHOUSE / GREENHOUSE EFFECT / GREENHOUSE GAS / GROWTH ASSUMPTIONS / HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION / HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURES / HOUSEHOLD INCOME / HOUSEHOLD SURVEY / HOUSEHOLD VULNERABILITY / HOUSEHOLD WELFARE / HUMAN CAPITAL / ICE CAPS / IMPACT OF CLIMATE / IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE / IMPACT ON POVERTY / IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE / IMPACTS OF TEMPERATURE / IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE / INCOME / INCOME DISTRIBUTION / Income distribution -- Developing countries / INCOME GROWTH / INCOME INEQUALITY / INCOME RISK / INCOME SHOCK / INEQUALITY / INSURANCE / INSURANCE MARKETS / INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE / IPCC / IRRIGATION / JOBS / Klimawandel / LAND DISTRIBUTION / LAND PRODUCTIVITY / LAND REFORM / LAND VALUE / LOW RAINFALL / LOW-CARBON / MARKET FAILURES / METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION / MONETARY FUND / NATIONAL INCOME / NATIONAL POVERTY / NEGATIVE IMPACT / NUTRITION / PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION / PER CAPITA INCOME / POLICY ANALYSIS / POLICY IMPLICATIONS / POLICY MAKERS / POLICY SCENARIOS / POOR / POOR COUNTRIES / POOR HOUSEHOLDS / POOR LIVING / POOR REGIONS / Poverty / Poverty -- Developing countries / POVERTY ALLEVIATION / POVERTY ANALYSIS / POVERTY ESTIMATES / POVERTY HEADCOUNT RATE / POVERTY IMPACT / POVERTY LINE / POVERTY LINES / POVERTY MEASURES / POVERTY RATES / POVERTY REDUCTION / POVERTY REDUCTION EFFORTS / POVERTY THRESHOLD / PRELIMINARY ESTIMATES / PRICE EFFECT / PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION / PUBLIC WORKS / Quantitative analysis / RAIN / RAINFALL / RELATIVE PRICE / RESOURCE ECONOMICS / RISK MANAGEMENT / RISK SHARING / RURAL / RURAL AREAS / RURAL DISTRICTS / RURAL HOUSEHOLD / RURAL HOUSEHOLDS / RURAL LABOR / RURAL POOR / RURAL POOR PEOPLE / RURAL POPULATION / RURAL POPULATIONS / RURAL POVERTY / RURAL POVERTY RATE / RURAL WAGES / SAVINGS / SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE / SEASON / Social aspects / SOCIAL FUNDS / SOCIAL SAFETY NETS / SUBSISTENCE / SURFACE TEMPERATURE / TARGETING / TEMPERATURE DATA / TEMPERATURE INCREASE / TEMPERATURE INCREASES / TEMPERATURES / TOTAL CONSUMPTION / TROPICAL REGIONS / UNCERTAINTIES / VARIABILITY OF CLIMATE / WARMING CLIMATE / WEATHER CONDITIONS / WEATHER EXTREMES / WEATHER PATTERNS / Welfare / Welfare economics / WMO
• ISBN: 0821396110, 9780821396117