Development and Climate Change
Rosina M. Bierbaum and
Robert B. Zoellick
No country is immune to climate change, but the developing world will bear the brunt of the effects, including some 75 to 80% of the costs of anticipated damages. Millions in densely populated coastal areas and in island nations will lose their homes as the sea level rises, while poor people will face crop failures, reduced agricultural productivity, and increased hunger, malnutrition, and disease. Extreme events such as droughts, floods, and forest fires will become more frequent, making it even harder for developing countries to attain the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals of 2015. A "climate-smart" world is possible in our time. But to ensure a safe and sustainable future, all nations must act now, act together, and act differently.
Rosina Bierbaum is dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan and codirector of the World Development Report 2010.
Robert Zoellick is president of the World Bank Group in Washington, DC.
E-mail: rbierbau{at}umich.edu.
