Rising Vulnerabilities of Rural Poor Amid Climate Shocks

Syllabus: GS3/ Climate Change

Context

• A national-level dialogue on FAO’s report “The unjust climate” organized in New Delhi, focused on the multidimensional poverty and climate vulnerabilities in rural parts of the country.

Key Highlights

• Income Disparities: Extreme weather, particularly heat stress, exacerbates income inequality. Poor rural households experience a 5% income loss due to heatwaves and a 4.4% loss from floods, significantly more than wealthier households.
• Gender Impact: If the average temperatures were to increase by just 1°C, women would face a staggering 34 percent greater loss in their total incomes compared to men. 
• Extreme temperatures worsen child labour and increase the unpaid workload for women in poor households.

Indian Scenario

• The report has suggested that India has made remarkable strides in reducing rural poverty over the past two decades. 
• Headcount poverty rates have dropped dramatically from 42.5 percent in 2005/06 to 8.6 percent in 2022/24.
• Climate change hits India’s rural poor hardest, especially those trapped in multidimensional poverty.
  • Structural inequalities and low adaptive capacity worsen the issue.

Adverse effects of climate change

• Climate Refugees: Sea-level rise, floods, and extreme weather displace millions of people, forcing them to migrate.
  • This creates challenges for both the displaced populations and the host regions, leading to resource conflicts and socio-political tensions.
• Loss of Livelihoods: In coastal areas and regions dependent on agriculture and fisheries, climate change threatens traditional livelihoods
• Increased Energy Demand: Rising temperatures drive up the demand for energy, particularly for cooling, straining electricity grids and leading to higher energy costs.
• Spread of Diseases: Climate change facilitates the spread of vector-borne diseases as warmer temperatures and altered rainfall patterns expand the habitats of mosquitoes and other disease carriers.

Policy Recommendations

• Anticipatory social protection: Scale up financial support programs that provide assistance before extreme weather events to prevent households from resorting to negative coping strategies.
• Workforce diversification: Invest in skills development, vocational training, and mentorship programs to help rural households diversify their income sources away from climate-sensitive work. 
• Gender-transformative approaches: Tackling discriminatory gender norms that prevent women from participating in non-farm employment is crucial. 
• Participatory agricultural extension: Encouraging group-based approaches to agricultural experimentation can help rural farmers adapt to changing climate conditions. 
• Access to adaptive technologies: Public investment in promoting climate-resilient agricultural technologies is critical for supporting land-constrained households.

Way Ahead

• To effectively curb poverty in India, it is crucial to tackle the climate impacts on rural communities, which are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events.
• Targeted interventions that strengthen the adaptive capacity of rural households and reduce their exposure to climate risks are key to ensuring that poverty reduction gains are sustained. 

Source: TH