Heat waves. Flooding. Crop failures. Drought. These are worldwide issues in the Anthropocene, but nowhere are their effects felt more than in developing countries in the Global South. Though these nations are nowhere near topping the list of climate polluters, they feel the effects more acutely. Some countries are warming much faster than others. For example, South Sudan’s temperatures are increasing at two and a half times the global average. Currently, 1% of the world is unlivable due to high temperatures. By 2050, that number is projected to rise to 19%. Most of this area is below the equator, predominantly in northern South America and western Africa.
This increase in temperature and natural disasters leads to multitudes of harmful effects that already peripheralized countries are unequipped to handle. When tropical storms inevitably hit these regions with increasing frequency and intensity, they cannot cope with the effects. For example, Madagascar and Pakistan both faced extreme flooding. The former was unable to garner the humanitarian aid it needed to recover, while the latter faced extreme hunger and malnutrition due to damaged agricultural land. This will undoubtedly cause mass climate migration, which has already begun in multiple areas of the world.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that an average of 21.5 million people were forcibly displaced each year by sudden onset weather-related hazards between 2008 and 2016, and thousands more from slow-onset hazards linked to climate change impacts. Climate migration will affect almost all humans on Earth, but the three regions that will suffer the most are sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Extreme weather events and conflict are the top two drivers of forced migration worldwide, together responsible for the annual movement of nearly 30 million people from their homes. One model forecasts that climate change may lead to nearly three percent of the population (totaling more than 143 million people) to move within their country of origin by 2050.
It is the unfortunate but true reality that developing nations in the global south are likely to continue to see the drastic effects of climate change in the coming years. These countries often attempt to decrease pollution, such as Ethiopia’s new tree-planting program. However, their effects on the more significant issue are minimal compared to those of developed nations such as the United States and China. With developed nations failing to support them with funding and decreasing their own emissions, there must be a massive reversal in the current policies of the world’s biggest polluters to halt the increasingly unlivable conditions below the equator.
Works Cited:
Frequently asked questions on climate change and disaster displacement | UNHCR US. (2016). Retrieved November 6, 2023, from UNHCR US website: https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/stories/frequently-asked-questions-climate-change-and-disaster-displacement
World Bank Group. (2022, February). Climate Migration in Africa: How to Turn the Tide. Retrieved November 6, 2023, from World Bank website: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/afr/publication/climate-migration-in-africa-how-to-turn-the-tide#:~:text=By%202050%2C%20up%20to%2038.5,further%20light%20on%20these%20trends
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Huq, S., & Adow, M. (2022, May 11). Climate change is devastating the Global South. Retrieved November 6, 2023, from Al Jazeera website: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/11/climate-change-is-devastating-the-global-south
Unprecedented Impacts of Climate Change Disproportionately Burdening Developing Countries, Delegate Stresses, as Second Committee Concludes General Debate | UN Press. (2019, October 8). Retrieved November 6, 2023, from Un.org website: https://press.un.org/en/2019/gaef3516.doc.htm
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