Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-8 (section)

=== FAQ 8.3 | How does and will climate change interact with other global trends (e.g., urbanisation, economic globalisation) and shocks (e.g., COVID-19) to influence livelihoods of the poor? ===

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''A range of local, regional and global economic and political processes already underway have put the livelihoods of the poor at risk. These processes include urbanisation, industrialisation, technological transformation, monetisation of rural economies, increasing reliance on wages, and inequality at national and international levels. Climate change intersects with these processes.''

The world’s poorest already struggle to provide for themselves and their families in their pursuit of livelihoods. Despite hard work there are many factors beyond an individual’s control that can make earning a living very difficult. Climate change is one problem among many that puts stress on livelihoods. Poor and marginal groups disproportionately bear impacts of climate change, in ways that accelerate transitions from traditional livelihoods, such as rural farming, to wage jobs in urban areas. Where adaptation measures are insufficient and where the poor are excluded from decision making, these livelihood transitions can be severely destabilising.

For example, climate change may alter the frequency or intensity of hazards that threaten the viability of a community’s traditional farming or fishing livelihoods. Local farmers or fishers are then forced to adapt how they farm or fish or abandon livelihood practices entirely. The latter may mean migrating to a city to find work. As many communities face the same challenge, this intersects with a global trend that is affecting billions of lives and livelihoods—urbanisation—as seen in the rapid growth of informal settlements at the peripheries of cities around the world, particularly rapidly growing mega-cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These developments will be accelerated by negative impacts of climate change and increase risks that larger segments of the population enter conditions of persistent poverty.

At the same time, people whose livelihoods have been upended by climate change are subject to new threats, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has shone a light on the plight of the most vulnerable people. For example, the elderly, Indigenous Peoples and Communities of Colour were disproportionately severely impacted by COVID-19; also the indirect economic consequences particularly hit the poor. Hence, COVID-19 demonstrates that the livelihoods of the poorest and most marginalised are vulnerable to other global trends beyond climate change. Also, most severe impacts are expected in regions that are already characterised by high levels of systemic human vulnerability.

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