The fifty poorest countries play a negligible role in global warming but will be hit hardest and soonest by climate change, threatening fragile economic and social gains. Two thirds of the world’s poorest citizens live in dry lands, and about half in farm households that are dependent on rain-fed agricultural production. Environmental shifts are already compromising water sources, causing renewed outbreaks of cholera and malaria in some areas, while rice and other crops are at risk from drought in others.
The adaptive capacity of LDCs is hampered by economic vulnerability, manifested in low incomes, underdeveloped economies, limited infrastructure, and widespread poverty. Climate change will make it even more difficult for these countries to reach the internationally agreed developments goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, by 2015.
DESA supports the Commission on Sustainable Development, and other deliberative and expert bodies, to ensure that the needs of LDCs are fully considered in international and regional development policy. At its 2008 and 2009 sessions, the Commission will consider in particular the issues of land management, agriculture, rural development, drought, desertification, and Africa.