Poverty

===Environmentalism===
{{Main|Environmentalism of the poor}}
{{See also|Climate change and poverty}}
[[File:Depuradora de Lluc.JPG|thumb|right|upright=1.15|A [[sewage treatment]] plant that uses [[solar energy]], located at [[Santuari de Lluc]] monastery, Majorca]]

Important studies such as the [[Our Common Future|Brundtland Report]] concluded that poverty causes [[environmental degradation]], while other theories like [[environmentalism of the poor]] conclude that the global poor may be the most important force for sustainability.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martínez Alier |first=Juan |title=The environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-567328-9 |location=New Delhi |oclc=61669200}}</ref> Either way, the poor suffer most from environmental degradation caused by reckless [[exploitation of natural resources]] by the rich.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anantha Duraiappah (1996). ''Poverty and Environmental Degradation: a Literature Review and Analysis'' CREED Working Paper Series No 8 International Institute for Environment and Development, London. Retrieved on June 27, 2016 |url=http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/8127IIED.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113164806/http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/8127IIED.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2016 |access-date=27 June 2016}}</ref> This unfair distribution of environmental burdens and benefits has generated the global [[environmental justice]] movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Martinez-Alier |first1=Joan |last2=Temper |first2=Leah |last3=Del Bene |first3=Daniela |last4=Scheidel |first4=Arnim |date=2016-05-03 |title=Is there a global environmental justice movement? |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2016.1141198 |journal=The Journal of Peasant Studies |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=731–755 |doi=10.1080/03066150.2016.1141198 |s2cid=156535916 |issn=0306-6150}}</ref>

A report published in 2013 by the [[World Bank]], with support from the [[Climate & Development Knowledge Network]], found that climate change was likely to hinder future attempts to reduce poverty. The report presented the likely impacts of present day, 2&nbsp;°C and 4&nbsp;°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. The impacts of a temperature rise of 2&nbsp;°C included: regular food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa; shifting rain patterns in South Asia leaving some parts under water and others without enough water for power generation, irrigation or drinking; degradation and loss of reefs in South East Asia, resulting in reduced fish stocks; and coastal communities and cities more vulnerable to increasingly violent storms.<ref>[http://cdkn.org/2013/06/report-warmer-world-will-keep-millions-of-people-trapped-in-poverty/?loclang=en_gb REPORT: Warmer world will keep millions of people trapped in poverty.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029194528/http://cdkn.org/2013/06/report-warmer-world-will-keep-millions-of-people-trapped-in-poverty/?loclang=en_gb |date=29 October 2013 }} [[Climate & Development Knowledge Network]]. Retrieved 31 July 2013.</ref> In 2016, a UN report claimed that by 2030, an additional 122 million more people could be driven to extreme poverty because of climate change.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/oct/17/climate-change-could-drive-122m-more-people-into-extreme-poverty-by-2030-un-united-nations-report|title=Climate change could drive 122m more people into extreme poverty by 2030|work=The Guardian|access-date=18 October 2016|date=17 October 2016|archive-date=18 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018003039/https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/oct/17/climate-change-could-drive-122m-more-people-into-extreme-poverty-by-2030-un-united-nations-report|url-status=live}}</ref>

Global warming can also lead to a deficiency in water availability; with higher temperatures and CO<sub>2</sub> levels, plants consume more water leaving less for people. By consequence, water in rivers and streams will decline in the mid-altitude regions like Central Asia, Europe and North America. And if CO<sub>2</sub> levels continue to rise, or even remain the same, droughts will be happening much faster and will be lasting longer. According to a 2016 study led by Professor of Water Management, Arjen Hoekstra, four billion people are affected by [[water scarcity]] at least one month per year.<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 November 2019|title=Thirsty future ahead as climate change explodes plant growth|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/plants-consume-more-water-climate-change-thirsty-future/|access-date=30 November 2020|website=Science|language=en|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101043113/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/10/plants-consume-more-water-climate-change-thirsty-future/}}</ref>