By Nuren Nawar
Regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change and its impacts experience fifteen times higher mortality rates from disasters compared to very low vulnerability regions. The region that is the most vulnerable to climate change is the Global South. Countries a part of this region include Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, and Landlocked Developing Countries. These countries have always been extremely vulnerable to disasters ranging from floods, droughts, earthquakes, etc. Most recently, climate change has increased the severity of the impacts of natural hazards that constitute disasters. The Global South experiences these impacts the hardest, with an abundance of these countries who have already been vulnerable to disasters only experiencing them to a greater, more destructive, and brutal extent. While countries in the Global South tend to be those contributing the least to climate change, they are the ones being the most impacted by it. The exacerbation of the impacts of disasters fueled by climate change in these regions merely pushes these already poor, unstable countries further back in their journeys of attaining stability, and sustainable development.
The reason for the impacts of climate change on these countries to be so intense is due to the fact that it impacts so many people all around the world who are already in critical situations in terms of their living standards. The Global South consists of the poorest countries in the world. These countries are already in critical conditions, with people struggling in all aspects of life. The impacts of disasters exacerbated by climate change introduces further destruction to these countries and their people. This fact is significant to me particularly because it involves and affects my very own people back home. I was born in Bangladesh, and the majority of my extended family lives there. Bangladesh is one of the Least Developed Countries defined by the United Nations. Bangladesh is a country with a weak economy, insatiable political system, and a plethora of social issues impacting the population. Additionally, Bangladesh is extremely prone to disasters stemming from natural hazards, specifically floods. The country experiences intense flooding at least once a year for a prolonged amount of time during monsoon season. The impacts of flooding were already severe prior to the increase of climate change, and have only been worsened due to it. I have witnessed the state of Bangladesh and its people with my own eyes merely six months ago, and most of the population are in dire situations. The impacts of climate change and the disasters correlating to it are only pushing people further back in their lives, and pushing the country back intensely in terms of its sustainable development goals. The majority of the population inhabit tin houses; struggle to put food on their plates; and undergo dehumanizing work conditions to make a few dollars a day. They possess very little valuable items, and look towards their loved ones for a sense of happiness in their lives. However, with rising climate change, disasters tend to take away that sense of happiness from them as well, and it is so disheartening to see people lose everything and everyone due to climate change, something that they play little to no part in. This raises the concern of providing proper resources, funding, and other forms of aid for the regions most vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. As the key contributors to climate change, the Global North needs to develop a strategy to aid those that their detrimental actions are impacting the most.
There are a variety of factors contributing to the worsening impacts of disasters on countries in the Global South by climate change. The major contemporary contributor to this issue is the detrimental economic conditions present throughout the Global South. The majority of the countries in the Global South are poor. Most of the population within the Global South struggles to meet a basic standard of living in terms of finance, education, health, access to certain facilities, human rights, etc. These countries are generally extremely poor, which institutes a lack of preparation and prevention measures taken to ensure natural hazards do not become disasters. They are often overpopulated, meaning housing and other infrastructure is situated in areas that are in close proximity to natural hazards; and infrastructure is typically poorly built due to lack of proper resources and funds, leading to quicker and easier destruction, which causes an increased amount of death and injury. Furthermore, a lack of funding and resources also indicates a lack of ability to build and utilize effective disaster prevention technology and structures. Response and resilience is also difficult considering that these countries are struggling economically. Families typically are not able to rebuild their homes; infrastructure is either not rebuilt for a prolonged period of time, or it is built weakly again; institutions, such as hospitals and schools, may not be able to operate as well. With climate change, not only are disasters exacerbated in already poor countries in dire situations, but they are much more frequent. This indicates that these countries and their people will never thoroughly be able to recover from disasters due to their severity and their frequency. A history of colonization and colonialism is a major reason that the economies in these countries are struggling as much as they are. Most countries in the Global South have experienced various forms of colonization from wealthier countries who have overtaken their land, stolen their resources and wealth, and overall induced the various issues within the countries. Colonization and colonialism are the foundation of the issue surrounding the struggling economies within the Global South, which depicts why this region is experiencing climate change and its impacts, such as its exacerbation of disasters, so intensely.
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