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Climate change is a pressing concern for the health of the planet. However, people worldwide appear to have become less concerned about its effect.

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Globally, the number of people thinking climate change posed a “very serious threat" to their country stood at 48.7 per cent in 2021 which was a fall of 1.5 percentage points, compared to a similar survey conducted by Gallup World Risk Poll in 2019.

People in China who think on the same lines have come down to 20 per cent, a full three percentage points down from the previous findings. Incidentally, China is the world's biggest polluter. 

As for the US, the second biggest polluter globally, climate change awareness rose slightly amongst the masses to 51.5 per cent. 

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Ironically, regions such as West Asia (27.4 per cent), North Africa (27.4 per cent) and South Asia (39.1 per cent), which are facing the highest ecological threats have the people that are the least concerned about climate change.

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The findings come a month before the next global meeting on climate change, COP27 takes place in Egypt. 

“Negotiators at COP27 need to consider the ways in which climate change is exacerbating the impacts of ecological threats...and how the international community can mitigate them,” said Steve Killelea, founder Gallup World Risk Poll. 

While people become less perturbed about the perils of climate change, the situation remains dire as ever. 1.4 billion people across 83 countries have extreme difficulty gaining access to clean water. Meanwhile, 20 per cent of the population in the above bracket do not have access to clean drinking water.  

According to studies, the affluent countries of Europe such as Italy, the Netherlands, Greece and Portugal will face critical clean water shortage by 2040.

(With inputs from agencies)

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