Climate change receives a lot of attention–powerful storms, severe droughts, frequent floods, and rising temperatures. But climate change policy, on the other hand, is eternally made a back-burner issue.

Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must Be Avoided, published by The World Bank, illustrates the potential effects of climate change on the developing world. The report’s companion infographic makes the results particularly stark:

Sub-Saharan Africa

With only a two-degree rise in temperature, 10-15 percent of sub-Saharan species could go extinct. That’s a lot of family safaris cancelled.

 

South East Asia

With a four-degree temperature rise, most coral reefs will become extinct, along with the associated fisheries and coastal ecosystems. Say goodbye to snorkeling off the Pacific islands.

 

South Asia

With a two-degree temperature increase, 33 percent of the city of Calcutta could be underwater much of the year.

Unfortunately, as U.S. Secretary of State Kerry recently noted, “The worst consequences of the climate crisis will confront people who are the least able to be able to cope with them.”

A mother in Indonesia rides her bicycle through flooded streets. Photo: Jim Jarvie for Mercy Corps.