A/HRC/45/40 low-income countries, where an average of just 20 per cent of the population is online. 44 Digital advances have generated enormous wealth in record time, but that wealth has been highly concentrated in a small number of countries, companies and individuals. Moreover, under current policies and regulations, this trajectory is likely to continue, further contributing to rising inequality. The digital divide in which over half the world has limited or no Internet access must be eliminated, and a digital economy that delivers for all must be built.45 I. Global warming, climate change and biodiversity 51. The contemporary global warming and climate change crisis and the worrisome trend in loss of biodiversity present serious long-term implications for the right to development. The consequences of climate change will intensify developmental challenges while its adverse impact on the poor would be particularly severe. Rising sea levels will submerge low-lying islands and coastal lands and contaminate coastal freshwater reserves. A warmer atmosphere will spread tropical diseases, pathogens and pests to new areas. Growing urbanization is already seriously challenging services and infrastructure in stressed and densely populated coastal cities in several developing countries. Climate change will also impact global food production, since drought, increased unpredictability of precipitation and rising temperatures will reduce crop yields, while warming and acidification of the oceans will affect fisheries. The food-insecure, poor and undernourished will be disproportionately harmed. Increased drought-related water and food shortages, linked to rising and extreme temperatures, may increase malnutrition and worsen rural poverty. A climate-related decline in food productivity will also negatively impact livelihoods through its effects on vulnerable ecosystems. It is important to highlight that the poor and vulnerable – irrespective of whether in developed or developing countries – are particularly exposed to natural or human-made disasters, and their post-disaster recovery is more complicated. It is revealing that 9 out of 10 disaster-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, while the negative consequences of climate change will even more decisively increase inequalities in developing and developed countries.46 The climate crisis also shows that the price of inaction compounds over time, as it feeds further inequality, which can in turn make climate action, envisaged under Sustainable Development Goal 13, even more difficult.47 Climate change constitutes a clear, present and intensifying threat to the full and effective exercise of all human rights including those to life, health, a decent standard of living, non-discrimination, self-determination and development.48 52. Biodiversity loss has an economic cost, and it could harm food security and significantly impact human health. Current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems will undermine progress towards 80 per cent of the assessed targets for the Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, hunger, health, water, cities, climate, oceans and land. 49 The expected long-term adverse impact of climate change and the loss of biodiversity highlight the importance of a legally binding instrument on the right to development. J. Current socioeconomic situation 53. The World Social Report 2020 records deep divides within and across countries despite a period of extraordinary economic growth and widespread improvements in living 44 45 46 47 48 49 12 “ITU-WHO Joint Statement: Unleashing information technology to defeat COVID-19”, 20 April 2020. Digital Economy Report 2019: Value Creation and Capture, p. iv. Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Poverty & Death: Disaster Mortality – 1996–2015 (2016). Human Development Report 2019: Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, Beyond Today. www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25404&LangID=E. Directorate General for External Policies of the Union, Biodiversity as a Human Right and its implications for the EU’s External Action (European Union, April 2020).