Lots of people are talking about climate change, in all sorts of ways. How it's leading to the extinction of species of animals, how it's leading to increasing amounts of natural disasters, how it's giving us the hottest summers on record, and cutting rainfall in various parts of the world. There are also lots of people talking about how it's causing ancient glaciers to melt, which in turn is causing the world's sea level to rise. For all of these reasons and more, climate change is shaping as the 21st century's defining global challenge. As US President Barack Obama said earlier this year, "No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change".
So, in all of this talk about climate change, where's the fight to end extreme poverty?
Well, it's right in the middle.
Many of the world's poorest people live in some of the toughest climates. The nations on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Africa are very vulnerable to changes in the world's climate - a couple of extra degrees of temperature (and declining rainfall) turns their landscape from "really tough to survive in" to "virtually impossible". Likewise, low-lying countries like Bangladesh and the Pacific Island nations are in big trouble if the sea level rises by a metre. Tens of millions of people in poverty will lose the land they used to grow food, and they'll then face a very uncertain future.
Even more unfair than that, is the fact that climate change is primarily being caused by wealthy countries with big industrial economies. To me, it feels like a millionaire is committing a crime, and the cops are throwing a nearby beggar into jail as punishment. Twisted, hey. If we're going to keep climate change under some semblance of control, it's the big guys who have to make big changes to the way they're doing things.
The big nations, the big nations
Yep, the big nations. Ones like Germany, China, the US, Marshall Islands, Japan, the UK, Russia, Australia. Ok fine, let's talk about the Marshall Islands.
Home to a big population of 53,000, the Marshall Islands is a group of islands just above the equator in the world's biggest ocean, the Pacific (it's the size of the world's four other oceans put together, so don't mess with it). The Marshall Islands is a low income country with basically no polluting industries; the locals are into fishing, small-scale farming, and hospitality for tourists. Money also comes from the US, which has a military base in the islands (aaaand if you're curious, the US is still paying legal compensation for carrying out 67 nuclear tests in the islands 60 years ago, including one bomb 1000 times bigger than the one that flattened Hiroshima during World War 2. The health consequences of all of this nuclear radiation are still affecting the locals). But, despite that, the Marshall Islands Government made a big statement over the weekend: the nation is going to cut its carbon emissions by 32% of its 2010 levels by the year 2025, and aim for a 45% reduction by 2030. That's big.
I guess they got tired of waiting around for everyone else to get serious, and decided to show the world what strong action looks like.
And I can understand why: as one of the world's most low-lying nations, even minor rises in sea level will put the existence of the country at risk. The very highest point in the Marshall Islands is 10m (33 feet) above sea level, with the vast majority of the nation's land just a few inches above the sand. There's no "it would be good if there was action", because it's simply essential for them. The Marshall Islands' Foreign Minister Tony de Brum said "Our message is simple: if one of the world’s smallest, poorest and most geographically isolated countries can do it, so can you."
So there you have it. All of the world's hard work in educating kids, vaccinating communities, stabilising conflict zones, and creating jobs has brought about amazing progress in eliminating extreme poverty. Indeed, more people have been lifted out of extreme poverty in the past 15 years than in the entire rest of human history.
But so much of this fantastic progress is under threat if climate change ruins livelihoods, creates climate refugees who are forced out of their homes/towns/countries, and makes already-vulnerable people even more uncertain of their futures. That's why when the world's leaders sit down in September 2015 and announce a set of goals (called "the global goals") to lift hundreds of millions more people out of extreme poverty by 2030, I hope that addressing climate change is front and centre as a factor in ending extreme poverty. Without it, it really can't work.