Climate change is a reality, and it's affecting everyone. However, this problem isn't equally distributed. Women and children are suffering from the effects of climate change more than men, and poorer communities are bearing the brunt of its negative impacts. Developed nations have an obligation to help these vulnerable groups in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change on everyone living around the world.
Marginalized communities are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change because they don't have resources or power to protect themselves from harm— and often, they're not even made aware of the negative impacts until it's too late. These communities are often already living in areas that are at risk of natural disasters or other damage caused by climate change. As temperatures rise, these places become even less habitable, forcing people out of their homes and sometimes into refugee camps where they can't earn money or provide for their families.
Climate change isn’t gender neutral.
What’s more is that women and children are more vulnerable to climate change impacts than men. Women are more likely to be injured or even killed by extreme weather events like floods, hurricanes and droughts. They also make up a majority of farmers and food producers, which makes them crucial to feeding their families.
They are often tasked with collecting water for their families and children through long journeys on foot or by bike. This can be dangerous during periods of drought when water sources dry up. Children are also at greater risk because they have a limited ability to adapt – especially if they live in low-income areas where sanitation facilities aren’t readily available or don’t work well enough for waste disposal needs.
The United Nations COP26 coverage put it perfectly:
“For millennia, women have had a special relationship with nature. They contribute enormously to the well-being and sustainable development of their communities, as well as to the maintenance of the planet’s ecosystems, biological diversity and natural resources.
Women in developing countries are generally the first to respond to managing the environmental capital that surrounds them. From collecting water for cooking and cleaning, using the land for livestock, foraging for food in rivers and reefs, and collecting firewood, women all over the planet use and interact with natural resources and ecosystems daily.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other UN agencies, they are also the first to feel the effects of climate change when they are forced to travel longer and longer distances to find what they need to feed their families.
Moreover, while environmental degradation has serious consequences for all human beings, it affects, in particular, the most vulnerable sectors of society, mainly women, whose health is most fragile during pregnancy and motherhood.”
Climate change is a global problem. It affects us all, and it should be up to all of us to tackle it together. But the poorest communities in the world are suffering the most right now.
The impacts of climate change are harsher for people living in low-lying coastal areas and arid environments, as well as those who rely on natural resources for their livelihoods like fishing or farming. These communities are often marginalized by society because they lack access to education, healthcare and other basic services needed for survival—and they’re also at higher risk from extreme weather events such as hurricanes and floods which have become more frequent due to rising temperatures.
When it comes to climate change, all the good intentions in the world can't make up for a systemic lack of resources! People will ultimately move in search of better living conditions, food and water — or worse. According to the International Organization for Migration, “climate refugees” are people who have been forced to relocate because their homes or communities were destroyed by natural disasters linked to climate change. These areas are especially vulnerable because they often have low levels of economic development and high rates of poverty — exacerbating their already precarious situation when disaster strikes.
Climate change is a global problem. It’s also a human problem, and the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world will be hardest hit by it.
The main cause of climate change is carbon emissions from industrialized countries in the Global North—and more specifically, from their consumption patterns. Developed nations are responsible for emitting some 75% of all greenhouse gases into our atmosphere every year, while developing countries account for only 25%. But these same developed nations have been slow to take responsibility for their contribution to this crisis; they've relied on underdeveloped countries to shoulder much of that burden instead.
Developed countries have an obligation to mitigate climate change because they have the power, resources and finances to do so. They also have the responsibility to do so.
Developed countries have the power to address climate change because they are responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere today. These greenhouse gases trap solar radiation that would otherwise be reflected by Earth back into space, resulting in a warming effect on our planet's surface temperature. The impact of this warming is felt most severely by developing countries that lack resiliency against its effects and face increased risk from natural disasters like floods and droughts as well as other extreme weather events triggered by climate change.
The effects of climate change will be felt most strongly by those who have the least power to affect it. The world saw this happen in 2015 and 2016, when rich countries refused to sign the Paris Agreement and poorer nations suffered as a result. Now is the time to take action before it's too late. As COP27 is just around the corner, it’s important to remember who has the power, and who will really suffer if action isn’t taken soon.
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