Climate change, a huge threat to developing countries

For the first article of April, and for the three months of existence of this blog, I will handle a very serious subject. The International Herald Tribune published on its website an article on the threat that climate change may become for developing countries. The conclusions are indeed food for thought.

According to this article :

” Next Friday, a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body that since 1990 has been assessing global warming, will underline this growing climate divide, according to scientists involved in writing it — with wealthy nations far from the equator not only experiencing fewer effects but better able to withstand them. ”

In other words, we as rich countries polluted and still pollute and the poor nations will pay an important part of the price. This is perhaps one of the biggest, if not the biggest, inequality industrialised countries will make to poor people. This situation indeed need a worldwide implication with global initiative to mitigate climate change as soon as possible.

For rich countries, the burden will be heavy. But we have the means, both financial and technical to decrease the importance to face the upcoming climate change.

But concerning the developing countries of the South? Will they be able to prepare structures that will enable them to stand out of harm’s way ? It is doubtful that people already fighting for mere survival with the current situation will improve their chances with increased temperatures and climate change related phenomena.

According to the forthcoming assessment of the IPCC, these issues will include disrupted water supplies as well as droughts.

The trends of the UN talk about an increase of the global population by 2050. But to me, with an increased threat due to global warming, the population will remain stable or will perhaps decrease. Because the threats to human lives will increase with water shortage, higher temperatures in already warm zones and so on.

To conclude, I would like to state that this opinion is shared as the IHT articles states :

“Like the sinking of the Titanic, catastrophes are not democratic,” said Henry Miller, a fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. “A much higher fraction of passengers from the cheaper decks were lost. We’ll see the same phenomenon with global warming.”

Source : Poor nations to bear brunt as world warms (IHT)

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