'Heartbreaking' Madagascar is wake-up call to climate crisis
ABC News
The head of the U.N. food aid agency says the drought-stricken island nation of Madagascar is a "wake up call" to what the world can expect in coming years due to climate change
ROME -- The drought-stricken island nation of Madagascar is a ’wake up call” to what the world can expect in coming years due to climate change, the head of the United Nations' food aid agency said Tuesday.
David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Program, told The Associated Press in an interview that what’s happening in the south of the Indian Ocean country is “the beginning of what we can expect” to see as the effects of global warming become more pronounced.
“Madagascar was heartbreaking,” Beasley said, referring to his recent visit there. “It’s just desperate," with people reduced to selling their household pots and pans to try to buy food, he said.
Some 38 million people worldwide were displaced last year because of climate change, leaving them vulnerable to hunger, according to Beasley. A worst--case scenario could an see that number soar to 216 million people displaced due to climate change by 2050.
