Editorial.

The global climate is subject to increasing change, and this has become more evident over recent years. The latest climate projection models of the United Nations Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, a high-level, independent, scientific advisory body, suggest that if no action is taken now to reduce greenhouse gases, air surface temperatures could rise to levels that will significantly alter ecosystems. No one will be immune from the overall impacts of climate change, but it will have a disproportionate effect on the lives of poor people in developing countries, where poverty increases people's vulnerability to its harmful effects. Poor people in overcrowded temporary settlements erected on unsuitable land will be at risk of flooding and land slides. Those eking out an existence from subsistence farming will have no savings or assets to insure them against external shocks. Lack of sanitation and limited access to clean water, poor diet, and inadequate healthcare provision will undermine resistance to disease.