Vital GEO Graphics

Millions of people continue to be displaced and to be negatively affected by conflict, which reduces societal capacity to adapt to environmental change, while making sustained environmental management difficult. Credit: UN Photo Library

During hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005, impov- erished people without access to private transport were unable to leave the city of New Orleans. People in poor health or lacking bodily strength were less likely to survive the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 – in villages in North Aceh, Indonesia, women accounted for up to 80 per cent of deaths. In Sri Lanka the same tsunami caused a high mor- tality rate among children and the elderly. Climate change is likely to increasingly upset various ecological balancing forces, resulting in a growth in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events around the globe. This will cause greater insecurity for much of the world’s popula- tion. Droughts are likely to have a severe impact on growing numbers of people. Those living in drylands in industrialized countries – such as in Australia and the US – typically have a diversity

of livelihood options and can adapt more to land degradation and water scarcity. But those in de- veloping countries who directly depend on envi- ronmental resources for their livelihoods are most vulnerable. Where there is high agricultural dependency, droughts may undercut food security and economic performance, lessening the opportunity to meet Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 on poverty and hunger.

Sandstorm in Gao, Mali. Credit: BIOS Crocetta Tony/StillPictures

23 D I SAST ERS AND CONF L I CTS