Oxfam dubs climate change greatest threat to humanity
OTTAWA — The damaging effects of climate change on hundreds of millions of the world's poor — hunger, lack of water, forced migration — is the single greatest threat to humanity this century, says a major new report by Oxfam.
And a Prairie drought at home that could drive up food prices is one tangible effect of that crisis on Canada, Oxfam Canada added Monday.
Oxfam called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his fellow G8 leaders to take immediate emergency action in addition to coming up with a long-range plan to reduce harmful greenhouse gases.
Oxfam is calling on the G8 leaders, holding their annual summit in Italy this week, to provide $2 billion in emergency funding as a down payment on the $150 billion a year that is ultimately needed to help the 2.7 billion people in almost 50 countries who now face the threat of violence due to climate change. Canada's share would be about $80 million.
"No Canadian government has seemed to understand the enormity of the climate threat," said Joanna Kerr of Oxfam Canada. "We are not convinced by Mr. Harper's tepid emission goals."
Canada has lagged behind other western countries on its greenhouse gas reduction targets, say environmental groups as well as Oxfam, a development agency.
The government has pledged Canada will lower its emissions by one-fifth by 2020 from 2006 levels, not the 1990 levels that Oxfam and others say would be more substantive.
The Conservatives have said they will spend $2 billion over the next five years on clean carbon technology.
But as G8 leaders prepare for their summit, Oxfam says the world's poor are being crushed by the extreme symptoms of climate change — droughts, famine, and natural disasters among others — forcing them to migrate in large numbers in the face of failing food supplies and contaminated water.
The Oxfam report joins others, including past military assessments in the United States and Britain that predict that dramatically shifting climate conditions will be the main driver of wars and instability in decades to come.
While the effects of Asian cyclones and African famine are well know, Canada faces its own climate change threats in the form of a drought that is expected to hurt farmers in western provinces, said Oxfam Canada's Mark Fried.
"The drought on the Prairies is certainly going to bring it home to people when the prices of bread shoot through the sky," said Fried.
"We are not immune from the effects of climate change . . . the price of foodstuffs is going to continue to rise as crops fail around the world, due to increased droughts and flood."
The National Farmers Union called Monday on the government to enact provisions of the "AgriRecovery" framework because of a "looming crop and livestock disaster" due to current drought conditions.
"For many farm families, the determining factor for whether they will be able to continue farming will be the adequacy and the timeliness of your government's response," stated a letter from union president Stewart Wells to Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
Oxfam wants progress on the environment at the G8 because it is the last major international meeting before the Copenhagen summit in December, when the countries of the world try to craft a climate change plan to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
Canadian officials, briefing reporters in advance of Harper's arrival in Italy on Tuesday, had little to say about the connection between climate change, poverty and food security.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice is one of two cabinet ministers making the trip to Italy with Harper.
In a pre-summit statement, Harper stressed the need to expand free trade, across Europe as well as in the Caribbean, while reiterating the need to fight protectionism.
Graham Saul, of the Climate Action Network, said Canada's long-term trading goals would be threatened if it remains inactive on addressing climate change.
"We're three years into the Harper government and the made-in-Canada solution that was promised has not appeared at all. We haven't had a serious meaningful law or regulation in regards to industrial greenhouse gas emissions," said Saul.
"We're facing a real threat of falling out of alignment with our major trading partners in the industrialized world. That's the real trade threat."
Original Article: By Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service