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WOMEN IN developing countries are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but their plight has been largely overlooked in the debate over how to tackle the issue, according to a United Nations report published yesterday.

The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) report, Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate Change, details how climate change threatens to widen the gap between rich and poor and amplify gender inequalities. Slower population growth in both developed and developing countries may help “ease the task of bringing global emissions into balance with the atmosphere in the long run and enabling more immediate adaptation to change already under way”, the report argues.