A DIFFERENT TAKE ON
CLIMATE CHANGE
PROTOCOL-MAGAZINE
SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS
Most of the
discussions on
climate change
that we receive in
the media focus
on its effect on the
natural
environment—the
melting of
glaciers, coral
bleaching, more
extreme weather
patterns, just to
name a few. Not
enough attention
is given to the
extremely
important point
that climate change is more detrimental to the poor than it
is to the rich. The tendency to talk about the science of
climate change neutralises a topic that is fundamentally
socio-economic as well.
And is it not obvious that this should be the case? Climate
change due to human activities is caused by the burning of
fossil fuels, but the lifestyle one leads determines one’s need
for energy. Only those who can afford it lead a lifestyle that
has a high carbon footprint, and those living in extreme
poverty simply do not emit as much greenhouse gas as an
average person in a developed country. Yet, it is more
saddening than ironic to note that it is the impoverished
who bear most of the brunt. Someone living in urban
quarters may be annoyed by continuous days of torrential
rain, but the farmer who lives off the produce on his farm
pays a dearer price. In fact, 75% of the world’s poor live in
rural areas and depend on the land to make a living.
Impoverished areas are also nowhere near as well-equipped
as developed areas when it comes to dealing with natural
disasters and their aftermath.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the increasing warmth will provide
congenial breeding grounds for mosquitoes and engender
the spread of malaria, a disease which is considered to be a
major hindrance to economic development. Meanwhile, the
low-lying areas in Bangladesh susceptible to flooding will
be devastated by the rise in water levels, leading to
environmental refugees being displaced from their homes.
In effect, all that climate change does is aggravate the
geographical disadvantage that is in the first place a major
cause of underdevelopment. It can, and certainly will undo
the efforts of aid agencies and self-determined individuals to
lift themselves out of poverty. We need to outrun the
10
BY
CLARENCE
LEONG
negative effects of climate change to win the race to end
poverty.
For a while now, when a finger is pointed at the culprit of
climate change, it is pointed at countries. Developing
countries argue that the developed countries had their fair
share in emissions to earn them the prosperity they enjoy
today, and so they should not be deprived of the right to
emit for growth. The question about whether it is the
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