Global Warming Effects Unequal
Poorer Nations Being Hit the Hardest
Countries with the least carbon emissions feel the sting of climate change.
We may not be in this together after all. Just ask Africa.
As we watch the effects of climate change take place across the globe, it becomes apparent that the consequences may not be as equal as we once thought. In fact, they don't even come close.
As scientists begin to focus on the environmental changes caused by increased levels of greenhouse gases, it appears that those nations least responsible for contributing to the damage are being hit the hardest with repercussions.
Poorer countries such as Africa, India, southern Asia, and Egypt stand the greatest risk of damages caused by climate change, not only due to geography, but because of harsh financial situations that leave them unable to cope with the necessary changes.
"Like the sinking of the Titanic, catastrophes are not democratic," said Henry I. Miller, a researcher at Stanford University, in an interview with the New York Times. "A much higher fraction of passengers from the cheaper decks were lost. We'll see the same phenomenon with global warming."
While the United States and Western Europe account for nearly two-thirds of the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide, Africa-responsible for less than 3 percent-is left to battle the intense drought that plagues their nation. As precipitation moves further away from the equator and closer toward the poles, countries such as Malawi in sub-Saharan Africa that rely heavily on agriculture for survival, suffer the most.
In Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, nine out of ten citizens are farmers. In recent years drought has worsened, causing crops to fail, fish supplies to shrink, and land to become unusable. While richer parts of the world are able to adapt to a changing atmosphere by investing in floatable homes, flood barriers, wind powered water filtration systems and genetically altered harvests, Malawi doesn't even have the working equipment to track and predict its future climate change. Broken machinery and outdated technology caused by an incredibly low national budget of $160,000, leaves the country looking outward for help. However, despite the signing of the first global warming treaty in 1992 that promised industrialized nations would assist with climate aid for those countries in need, the funds are scarce and divided unequally, going to the fast developing countries rather than the poorer ones. Malawi's 14 million citizens have been waiting on donors for over a year since going to the United Nations last March for assistance.
In Dhanaur, India, drought is the least of their problems.
Here, flooding from heavy rains that have intensified over the years wreak havoc upon this village. Homes are destroyed, lives are lost, and important harvests are ruined.
Despite small measures taken by the government, the quality of life in the floodplains of India continues to deteriorate. Roads remain impassable for weeks at a time, no embankments have been built, and workers who depend on farming for income are unable to feed their families when fields are waterlogged and destroyed.
Last year, the government used its first early warning system to notify residents of the upcoming storms. Only the one shelter available had no drinking water and no toilet.
Michael H. Glantz, an expert on climate hazards at the National Center for Atmospheric Research doesn't feel hopeful about the situation.
"The third world has been on its own," he said, "and I think it pretty much will remain on its own."
