Two-pronged right to development and climate change: Reciprocal implications

Abstract

As a result of the overvvhelming weight of scientific evidence, it is now reasonable to maintain that peoples of the globe, especially those living in developing countries, are facing high risks posed by anthropogenic climate change. A recent report commissioned by the World Bank provides a forecast of the frightening impacts of 2°C warming on three tropical regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. The report highlights the key findings that have potentially devastating implications for development, such as unprecedented and more frequent heat extremes covering greater land areas both globally and in the three regions examined. For example, heat extremes in South East Asia are projected to increase substantially in the near term, and will have significant adverse effects on humans and ecosystems with as little as 2°C rise in temperature.