Climate change a threat to development: World bank

Climate change may be one of the biggest threats to slashing poverty in the world's poorest nations and has forced the World Bank to reassess its development projects, the bank said on Tuesday.

Studies have shown that climate change and global warming linked to greenhouse gas emissions will slash economic growth, development and investment in some of the world's most vulnerable and poor nations.

"We are already seeing the consequences of climate change ... we need to see how we can help countries develop in a climate friendly way," Steen Jorgensen, World Bank acting vice president for sustainable development, told reporters in Cape Town at the release of a new report on climate change.