http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/15/climatechange

What species will be the next projected victim of climate change? First, it was polar bears. Then last week, insects in tropical habitats were faced with their grim fate. This week's victim is poor people. According to Sri Lankan-born expert on climate change and sustainable development, Professor Mohan Munasinghe, he predicts that harsh environmental conditions brought on by climate change will widen the existing gap between the "have's" and the "have not's". Unless the greenhouse gas emissions are curbed, Munasinghe predicts a state where the more fortunate isolate themselves and those less fortunate are left out in the cold (or the heat, as the case may be).

Professor Mohan Munasinghe was giving a lecture at Cambridge university in which he presented a dystopic possible future world in which social problems are made much worse by the environmental consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions. "Climate change is, or could be, the additional factor which will exacerbate the existing problems of poverty, environmental degradation, social polarisation and terrorism and it could lead to a very chaotic situation," he said.

The scenario, which he termed "barbarisation" was already beginning to happen, he said. "Fortress world is a situation where the rich live in enclaves, protected, and the poor live outside in unsustainable conditions."

The Guardian; May 15, 2008

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