Green­peace and Oxfam released a new study that says that cli­mate change is slow­ing China’s efforts to elim­i­nate poverty. The study focused on three coun­ties within China and shows how weather has effected crops, or in some cases lives.

The irony is that China’s invest­ments in energy have done a lot to reduce poverty in the coun­try. How­ever, those same invest­ments have increased emis­sions. The authors of the report urge China to now cut emissions.

From Reuters India, writer Emma Graham-Harrison was present at the reports release.

One county in south­west­ern Sichuan is grap­pling with an increase in tor­ren­tial rains which have destroyed homes by under­min­ing their foun­da­tions and dam­aged fields.

A sec­ond case study looks at a poor cor­ner of southeastern Guang­dong province that is trou­bled by a rise in droughts and flood­ing — because when rain does come it is much heav­ier — caus­ing crop fail­ure, dam­age to roads and other problems.

In north­west­ern Gansu, a third county is suf­fer­ing from inten­si­fied drought that has forced some 34,000 peo­ple to leave their homes and left thou­sands more with lim­ited drink­ing water.

“The impact of cli­mate change on poor com­mu­ni­ties is a new phe­nom­e­non, a new chal­lenge, in man’s fight against poverty,” econ­o­mist Hu (Angang) said.

The impact on peo­ple in areas like these, already grap­pling with prob­lems like remote loca­tion and lim­ited resources, may make it harder for Bei­jing to con­tinue lift­ing ordi­nary Chi­nese cit­i­zens out of poverty, the report said.

“Envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion, drought and increased dis­as­ter risk and inci­dence mean that in the future we will have to deal with more and more peo­ple falling back into poverty,” it said.

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