Daily Nation (Nairobi) By Jeff Otieno Gains made in human
development in Africa may be reversed if climate change is not
checked, the UN now warns. A document published by the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says the increasing global
warming, threatening to average more than two degrees centigrade
before the end of the century, may compromise gains made in
developing countries, mainly African states. It provides a stark
account of the threat posed by global warming and argues that
the world is drifting towards a 'tipping point' "that could lock
the world's poorest countries and their poorest citizens on a
downward spiral". If this happens, the document warns, it will
leave hundreds of millions facing malnutrition, water scarcity,
ecological threats and a loss of livelihoods. "Ultimately,
climate change is a threat to humanity as a whole. But it is the
poor, a constituency with no responsibility for the current
ecological debt, who face the immediate and most severe human
costs," says UNDP adminis