LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- As climate-fueled disasters intensify across the globe, a staggering 900 million of the world’s poorest people now face direct exposure to extreme heat, floods, drought, and pollution, placing them at the epicenter of a rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis, the United Nations warned this week.
Nearly 80 percent of people living in extreme poverty are now being hit hardest by environmental shocks driven by global warming, according to a new report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
These climate hazards are compounding the hardships already faced by 1.1 billion people in 109 countries who live in what researchers call “acute multidimensional poverty”, a condition defined by deprivation in basic needs such as housing, education, health care, electricity, and sanitation.
“The poorest are shouldering a double and deeply unequal burden. No one is immune to the intensifying effects of climate change, but those in poverty are the most vulnerable,” Acting administrator of the UNDP, Haoliang Xu said.
Regions like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are particularly at risk. The report found that 887 million people in poverty, nearly four in five are directly exposed to at least one major climate hazard. Among them, 608 million face extreme heat, while 577 million are affected by air pollution.
Additionally, around 465 million are exposed to flooding, and 207 million suffer from drought. More alarmingly, 651 million are experiencing at least two of these threats, while 11 million people, many in already fragile communities have endured all four within a single year.
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The study includes firsthand accounts, like that of Ricardo, a day laborer from the Guarani Indigenous community outside Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Ricardo lives in a cramped home with 18 family members, no formal education for his children, and no modern amenities, reflecting the harsh intersection of climate vulnerability and systemic poverty.
Climate shocks are especially devastating for communities dependent on agriculture or informal labor, sectors highly sensitive to environmental change.
“When hazards strike repeatedly or simultaneously, they deepen existing deprivations,” the report notes, eroding hard-won development gains.
Also, South Asia, while making strides in poverty reduction, now finds 99.1 percent of its poor population exposed to at least one environmental risk, highlighting the urgent need to integrate poverty alleviation with climate resilience.
Notably, with COP30 in Brazil approaching, the UN is urging global leaders to treat climate action as poverty action, warning that without swift and targeted interventions, rising temperatures will lock millions more into a vicious cycle of deprivation and disaster.
“Responding to overlapping risks means prioritizing both people and the planet, and above all, moving from recognition to rapid action,” the report concludes.
