12.07.2015 Views

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY CLIMATE CHANGEBOX 4.6:CLIMATE CHANGE, WATER, AND CONFLICTIN CENTRAL ASIAClimate change is worsening the difficulties faced by theformer Soviet states of central Asia, where cot<strong>to</strong>n farming anddeforestation have already undermined the ecosystem. Like itsneighbours, Tajikistan lives by water-intensive cot<strong>to</strong>n farming,which is based on a dilapidated and hopelessly inefficientirrigation system. A civil war further damaged infrastructure,and nearly a quarter of the population uses irrigation channels –contaminated by farm chemicals – as their main source of drinkingwater. Far downstream, the Aral Sea continues <strong>to</strong> shrink, exposingthe fertiliser and pesticide dust washed in<strong>to</strong> it in years past,creating a <strong>to</strong>xic wasteland for people living on its shores.Bad as things already are, climate change could precipitate a‘tipping point’. Tajikistan’s glaciers, the source of most of thewater in the Aral Sea Basin, have shrunk by 35 per cent in thepast 50 years, and what is left will shrink even faster astemperatures rise.In mountain valleys, the rapid melting of ice increases the riskof floods and landslides. Downstream, it is likely <strong>to</strong> increasecompetition for water. Regional water-sharing systems onceclosely woven <strong>to</strong>gether by Soviet design have unravelled andmust now be managed by five fractious and poverty-strickennew countries, each of which wants more water for nationaldevelopment, and all while the overall supply is dwindling –a sure recipe for future tension.BUILDING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGEThere are two broad routes <strong>to</strong> reducing people’s vulnerability <strong>to</strong> harm:reduce the extent of the hazard that they face, or reduce the risk of thathazard harming them. In the case of climate change, urgent action isessential on both fronts. The hazards of climate change are floods,droughts, hurricanes, erratic rainfall, and rising sea levels, the result ofhuman-induced global warming. Those hazards have <strong>to</strong> be tackled at261

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!