The study by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), which analysed several recent environmental disasters, found that even though minorities and indigenous peoples were hardest hit, they were often the last to receive help and relief.

In its annual "State of the World's Minorities" report, MRG called for political leaders to pay more attention to the impact of climate change on such groups, warning that their survival would otherwise be in jeopardy.

It highlighted the case of residents of the north Indian state of Bihar, where members of the untouchable caste were disproportionately affected by floods in 2007. Relief took a long time to arrive, and those who needed it were subject to discrimination, MRG said.

Indigenous and minority groups were also particularly vulnerable because of the close relationship they had forged with their surrounding environment.

"In our community the elders interpret certain signs from nature to know when to plant their crops or when to start the hunting season. But with climate change it is becoming impossible for them to make such predictions anymore," David Pulkol, a representative of the Karamajong community of Uganda, said.

MRG added that minority and indigenous populations were at threat because of the increased planting of biofuel crops, often presented as a solution in the fight against climate change.

The planting of such crops, however, has forced the eviction of communities from their land, as has been the case in Colombia, Brazil and Argentina.

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