The innocent poor hit hardest by climate change

Lee Jun-mo, executive director of the Korean branch of Irish humanitarian group Concern Worldwide, speaks about climate change and its impact on impoverished communities at a forum in Seoul in this Nov. 19 file photo. / Courtesy of Concern Worldwide

By Jin Yu-young

Irish aid and humanitarian group Concern Worldwide included climate change in this year's Global Hunger Index (GHI) for the first time, turning attention to its effects on impoverished communities.

Lee Jun-mo, the executive director of Concern Worldwide Korea, said poor people are the group of people most vulnerable to climate change, calling it an "injustice" because they are suffering the consequences of others' greed.

"During recent decades, the impacts of extreme climate change have gotten severe," Lee said. "As human exploitation of natural resources has gotten higher, the resilience of the land and forests has gotten lower. The problem is that climate change goes first towards the poor and vulnerable people living in marginalized farm and shore areas."

He further emphasized the unfair nature of climate change. While developed nations are some of the greatest contributors, developing nations face the most severe consequences, as they do not yet have the infrastructure and resources to respond to current issues or take preemptive measures against future problems. He also stressed the role of the youth as agents for change and how important it is for them to be proactive in their communities. "Education is a good starting point, but engagement is the next crucial step. Awareness by itself is not to bring about long-term progress," he said in the interview.

On November 19, Concern Worldwide held a forum called "Global Hunger Report 2019: Climate Change and Hunger" at Blue Square in Yongsan. Dominic MacSorley, CEO of Concern Worldwide, discussed how the GHI has "looked at hunger through the lens of conflict, inequality, gender, displacement and now climate change," as well as the ongoing efforts to combat this global issue. He also recognized Korea as a country "that committed to doubling their funding for the UN Green Climate fund."

"We need to promote the work of donors, such as Ireland and Korea that are playing a consistent and critical leadership role on hunger," MacSorley said in his opening speech.

Executive Director Lee was also present at the forum, where he spoke on the relationship between climate change and global hunger. Other speakers at the event included Beldine Atieno, the senior manager of advocacy and governance at Concern Worldwide Kenya, who spoke on drought in Kenya, and Kwon Taek-ryun, the international technology cooperation director of Korea's rural development administration, who discussed the monsoon season in Korea. Music group Hareem and the Blue Camel Ensemble also voiced their support for the cause by performing at the event.

With this year's forum being much larger than those in the past, members of Concern expressed their hopes of helping even more people in the future by having the youth play a large part in working to free the world of hunger.

Founded in Ireland in 1968, Concern Worldwide is an NGO with the mission statement: "Ending extreme poverty, whatever it takes." Having opened its Seoul chapter in 2015, Concern has been allocating both human and financial resources all over the world to provide aid to countries in need. The organization has had far-reaching effects and helped over 24 million people in 2018 alone, according to Concern Worldwide.

One of Concern's major projects is the Global Hunger Index, an annual publication that maps the world according to hunger levels. The index includes 117 countries that are ranked based on factors such as undernourishment and mortality rates for children under the age of five. The 2019 GHI marks the 14th edition of the publication, and focuses in particular on climate change as a significant factor of global hunger.

Jin Yu-young is a Korea Times intern.

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