As citizens of a developed nation, we are often removed from the impacts that climate change has on nations that are not as prosperous. Many countries in the developing world suffer greater consequences as a result of climate change, as they are hit with intense storms, floods, and other natural disasters that destroy villages and create massive impacts on citizens who do not have the money to rebuild their homes and livelihoods. For instance, in Fiji, the number of cyclones have dramatically increased in the past century, with rising sea levels on the verge of flooding villages forcing many to relocate. In the Gambia, rising water levels are pushing saltwater further upriver which is detrimental to the country’s supply of freshwater. Not only does this decrease the amount of drinkable freshwater, but also harms the agricultural industry which feeds the majority of the rural population. According to a United Nations article by Kemal Dervis, climate change may also cause a surge of vector-borne diseases such as malaria, Lyme disease, and dengue fever which is even more threatening in emerging nations due to the inaccessibility of healthcare.

Climate change also causes major economic harm to developing countries. In 2015, tropical storm Erika hit the country of Dominica in the Caribbean Islands resulting in damages that cost $400 million which was almost 90% of the country’s gross domestic product (540.7 million). In 2017 the country was once again hit with hurricane Maria which damaged 90% of its housing stock.

To make matters grimmer, most of the human contribution to climate change disasters are from 1st world countries, yet it’s developing nations that suffer the most. Developed countries, whose populations only make up 12% of the entire world, are responsible for 50% of the greenhouse gases that are released into the atmosphere for over a century.

Developing nations, however, are still contributing to the fight against climate change to relieve the burden it brings to their countries. In the 2019 UN Climate Change Conference, Botswana pledged to reduce 15% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and has implemented several policies in order to achieve this goal. Furthermore, the legally binding Paris climate agreement, signed by 196 nations—many of whom are developing nations—in 2015 pledged to lower global warming to 1.5-2% lower than pre-industrial era temperatures. Progress has been slow, but it is not hopeless. Developing countries may benefit as long as we collectively work together and do not lose sight of the goal in this fight against climate change.

Works Cited

Davies, Kemal. “Devastating for the World’s Poor: Climate Change Threatens the Development Gains Already Achieved.”,https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/devastating-worlds-poor-climate-change-threa tens-development-gains-already-achieved.

“Developing Nations Say they’Re Owed for Climate Damage. Richer Nations Aren’T Budging.”, 2021,

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/11/1054809644/climate-change-cop26-loss-and-damag e#:~:text=Developing%20countries%20have%20lower%20emissions,heat%20waves%2 C%20floods%20and%20droughts.&text=It%20could%20also%20help%20coun.

“Disaster Risk Talks ‘could Break Down’ Under Weight of Climate Politics

FacebookRedditEmailTwitter.”, 2015,

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2015/03/17/disaster-risk-talks-could-break-dow n-under-weight-of-climate-politics/.

“GDP Growth (Annual %) – Dominica.”, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=DM.

Hossain, Nabeel. “Cyclones and Floods in Fiji.”, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/328cdb736b254cea889afaf61927e9b9.

The Paris Agreement.

Peters, David H., et al. “Poverty and Access to Health Care in Developing Countries.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1136, 2008, pp. 161-171, doi:10.1196/annals.1425.011.

Popovich, Nadja, and Brad Plumer. “Who has the most Historical Responsibility for Climate Change?”, 2021,

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/12/climate/cop26-emissions-compens ation.html.

Unprecedented Impacts of Climate Change Disproportionately Burdening Developing Countries, Delegate Stresses, as Second Committee Concludes General Debate, 2019.

Image credits: 

By High Contrast - Own work, CC BY 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11571629