More than 300 million people are suffering from greenhouse gases

According to the most comprehensive study of the effects of greenhouse effect, global warming each year kills about 300,000 people and seriously affects hundreds of millions of others.

The number of forest fires is increasing due to climate change.Photo: wordpress.com.

The Global Humanitarian Forum - established by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan - has conducted a study on changing weather patterns and their impact on people. Research shows that 325 million people are suffering from the serious impact of the greenhouse effect. Total economic losses caused by climate change amount to about $ 125 billion per year.

The majority of deaths from greenhouse effects will occur in developing countries such as Bangladesh and Sudan - where floods and droughts are vulnerable. However, developed countries will also witness an increase in unusual weather events such as the heat wave that appeared in Europe in 2003.

In addition to the direct impacts (reduced food production, forest fires, floods, droughts, reduced marine resource production), global warming also causes indirect consequences. For example, when water becomes increasingly scarce, conflicts due to water disputes between communities, even among countries, are unavoidable.

Mr. Annan said that the report was a "bell of urgency" in the context of world leaders meeting in Copenhagen later this year to negotiate a new international agreement on climate change.

'Climate change is the silent crisis of mankind, but it is the greatest humanitarian challenge of our time. Right now, several hundred million people are suffering from the negative effects of the greenhouse effect. Most of them are unaware that they are victims of climate change. We need an international agreement to prevent global warming and its impact , 'he said.

Barbara Stocking, executive director of Oxfam (UK), stressed that the majority of victims live in developing countries.

'The poorest countries in the world suffer the most severe consequences even though they do almost nothing to make the greenhouse effect,' Stocking said.