Poor Countries Pay a Heavy Price for Climate Change
Climate Hogs
The people of the wealthy world create carbon emissions that are roughly 300 times higher per capita than the people of the world’s poorest countries. Yet it is the impoverished nations that have to deal with most of the negative effects of the climate crisis.
Dire Climate Warning
In 2018, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned the world’s leaders there were only a dozen years left in which to make dramatic changes in carbon dioxide emissions.
By 2023, the IPCC issued what it called a “final warning,” pointing out that more than three billion people are now “highly vulnerable” to climate catastrophes such as drought and flooding.
The Guardian newspaper notes:
“In many areas, the report warned, we are already reaching the limit to which we can adapt to such severe changes, and weather extremes are 'increasingly driving displacement' of people in Africa, Asia, North, Central and South America, and the south Pacific.”
Unequal Emissions
On a per capita basis, the top four biggest carbon emitters are Saudi Arabia (16.3 metric tonnes), Australia (16.2), the United States (14.8), and Canada (14.2).
At the other end of the scale are, Burundi (0.027 metric tonnes per capita), Democratic Republic of Congo (0.043), Mali (0.051), and Chad (0.062).
The charity Christian Aid reports that three of those countries (Mali is the exception) are in the list of the 10 most food insecure nations in the world.
One of the authors of the report, Katherine Kramer, told Deutsche Welle:
“What really surprised and shocked me was how strong the negative correlation was between food poverty and very low per capita emission. It was much stronger than we expected.”
The global south is where the impact of global heating on food production will be most seriously felt.
In most southern hemisphere countries, agriculture is small-scale and highly vulnerable to droughts and other extreme weather events. The climate crisis predictions are that heatwaves, dry periods, and floods will be more extreme and more frequent.
For climate change policies to be effective, the biggest contributors to global heating will have to make the biggest transformations.
Protection From Food Insecurity
Richer countries are at a much lesser risk for food insecurity because they have built infrastructure such as dams to store irrigation water, and highways and railroads.
Rich countries have food safety-net programs, and they are not heavily dependent on domestic agriculture. If they face a large crop failure, wealthy countries have the financial resources to buy imported food.
The Lancet Planetary Health report of July 2019 noted that “increased concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2)—by directly affecting plants—worsen the nutritional quality of food by decreasing protein and mineral concentrations by 5–15%, and B vitamins by up to a 30%.”
Global heating will also lead to many plants accumulating higher levels of carbohydrates and lower levels of minerals such as zinc and iron. Deficiencies of micronutrients lead to increased susceptibility to diseases and intellectual development.
Where the crops no longer grow.
Country Profile: Madagascar
The island nation off the east coast of southern Africa is one of the world’s lowest carbon dioxide emitters, with 0.163 tonnes per capita. Nine out of 10 of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty with incomes of less than $1.90 a day.
The island is in the path of major tropical storms (cyclones) that are predicted to become more common and more intense because of global heating. Rising sea levels are drowning the mangrove swamps that provide coastal protection from cyclonic storm surges.
Rainfall patterns are changing—in some places, there’s too much, in others there’s not enough.
Deforestation is another problem for Madagascar. Since 1950, about half the tropical rain forest has been logged, in part to feed the international demand for precious woods such as ebony and rosewood. The trees have also been cut to make way for cash crops such as cotton and tobacco.
Heavy rain, of which there’s an increasing amount, means top soil is washed away, further depleting the food supply. In Madagascar, the future can be seen now for many food insecure countries if the rich world doesn’t grapple with carbon dioxide emissions.
Christian Aid says that “Climate change and environmental degradation exacerbate these risks while the increasing fragility of the ecosystem intensifies vulnerability to shocks and food insecurity.” Already, the malnutrition rate among children under five is the fourth highest in the world.
Climate change is making Madagascar increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters such as cyclones and droughts which hamper development efforts. These disasters, which devastate staple crops such as rice, significantly jeopardize the country’s food security.
— The World Bank
Rising Sea Levels
As the world's temperature rises, the polar ice caps are melting, releasing their frozen water into the oceans.
According to NASA in 2019:
“Global sea level rose about eight inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and is accelerating slightly every year.”
Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum informs us:
"Globally, the sea level rose 4.5mm (0.17 inches) a year on average between 2013 and 2021. In several regions, the sea level is rising 'substantially faster' than the global average, the WMO says. These include the South-west Pacific, the South-west Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic."
Let's look at what this will do to a country such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. It is made up of 1,190 coral atolls, 80 percent of which are just one metre (a little over three feet) above sea level. The U.S. Geological Survey warns that “Most atolls will be uninhabitable by the mid-21st century due to sea-level rise exacerbating wave-driven flooding.”
The 520,000 Maldivians contribute four tonnes of carbon per capita to the atmosphere annually; 334.9 million Americans add 14.8 tonnes per capita.
So the people of the Maldives have almost no impact on global heating yet they are going to lose their entire nation. Nothing gets more unfair than that.
The Maldive islands are disappearing beneath the waves.
Bonus Factoids
- Atmospheric carbon levels have fluctuated many times through Earth’s history, but they never rose above 300 parts per million until 1950. In 2022, the level hit 422.9 parts per million, the highest level in the planet’s history.
- According to the United Nations, 828 million people in the world were food insecure in 2021. Meanwhile, the global pet food market value exceeds $91 billion a year.
- Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists say that human activity is responsible for global heating.
- Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz told the Texas Tribune that “The global warming alarmists are the equivalent of the flat-Earthers.”
Sources
- “The Global Injustice of the Climate Crisis.” Anne-Sophie Brändlin, Deutsche Welle, August 28, 2019.
- “Hunger Strike: The Climate and Food Vulnerability Index.” Joe Ware and Dr. Katherine Kramer, Christian Aid, August 2019.
- “IPCC: Radical Energy Transformation Needed to Avoid 1.5 Degrees Global Warming.” Bob Berwin, InsideClimate News, October 8, 2018.
- “IPCC Report: The World Gets Hungrier, but the Land Is Exhausted.” Irene Banos Ruiz, Deutsche Welle, August 8, 2019
- “Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations and Climate Change Will Affect Our Food’s Quality and Quantity.” Kristie L. Ebi and Irakli Loladze, The Lancet, July 2019.
- “Madagascar.” World Food Programme, undated.
- “8 Climate Change Records the World Smashed in 2021.” World Economic Forum, May 18, 2022.
- “Many Low-Lying Atoll Islands Will Be Uninhabitable by Mid-21st Century.” United States Geological Survey. April 25, 2018.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2023 Rupert Taylor
