University of Delaware: Global Warming
Foreign policy expert addresses global warming's special challenges for poor nations - 03/27/08
A discussion on how the world's poorest nations stand to be the most affected by climate change and the ways in which developed countries can provide them with renewable energy sources was the topic of UD's "Global Agenda 2008: Boiling Point International Politics of Climate Change" lecture Wednesday evening, March 26, in Mitchell Hall.
"As a global community, we have common ground: climate change," Janet Hall, a senior policy adviser at the United Nations Foundation, said. "Climate change poses many challenges to our planet and to our lives. One of the greatest challenges is how we advance the changes necessary to address climate change and to build a better future for developing countries."
One of the most important tools in helping developing countries pull out of economic turmoil is providing them with renewable energy sources, and according to Hall, "for poor nations, their ability to emerge out of poverty is linked to modern energy services."
Hall used statistics to push her point home, stating that 1.6 billion people are still without access to electricity and four out of five people live without electricity in rural areas of developing countries, mainly in south Asia and in Africa. Highlighting Africa, Hall explained that nearly 92 percent of the rural population lives without electricity in sub-Saharan Africa.
"A total of 2.4 billion people rely on traditional biomass, which is all organic substance produced by plants or animals, for cooking and heating," Hall said. "The traditional biomass that they must rely on in these countries harms their health." Quoting from the World Health Organization, Hall noted, "In relative terms, death related to biomass pollution kills more people than malaria and tuberculosis each year, worldwide."
