‘New poor’: climate change, Covid, inflation add to inequality in Bangladesh - South China Morning Post
Bangladesh inequality on the rise thanks to climate change, Covid, inflation: UN expert | South China Morning Post
Garment workers during a lunch break in Dhaka. Bangladesh remains dangerously dependent on its ready-made garment industry, which accounts for some 82 per cent of export revenues. Photo: Reuters
Bangladesh inequality on the rise thanks to climate change, Covid, inflation: UN expert
- Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on poverty and human rights, said the country has millions of ‘new poor’, hovering just above bread line
- Bangladesh is set to graduate from the UN’s least developed country status in 2026, which could mean losing preferential access to overseas markets
Garment workers during a lunch break in Dhaka. Bangladesh remains dangerously dependent on its ready-made garment industry, which accounts for some 82 per cent of export revenues. Photo: Reuters
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”