Climate Change in different societies
Looking ahead 20 to 50 years, which are the societies likely to be most hit by climate change, and which the least? What are the most important impacts likely to be?
The evolving global problem of climate change looms large with inevitable social, economic and ecological challenges for the world. The process of global warming and its consequences vary from region to region, but the nature of these variations is uncertain. The changes will not occur in a fast way, nor will they only exert a negative effect: for example, in some parts of the world it may see improvement in the economy, by the fact that a warmer climate can stimulate better agricultural outcomes in countries that nowadays are too cold to have a big economy in agriculture. A new climate will be beneficial to some societies and disadvantageous to others. However, the disadvantages, especially the increased incidence of disastrous natural phenomena, far outweigh the advantages. These disasters include the increasing sea level, changes in precipitation patterns resulting in floods and droughts, greater intensity of natural effects such as hurricanes, species extinctions and other factors to be discussed ahead. We can already see the patterns of destruction emerging, but we do not yet know the ultimate outcome. We do know that those most responsible for the global warming effect are the developed nations of North America, Western Europe and China. But the so-called developing countries will feel the most negative effects of global warming, because these nations have fewer resources to cope financially, scientifically and technologically to deal with the problems caused by global warming. Given the gradual nature of the changes, and using the knowledge we’ve already gained about the impacts of climate change thus far, this paper is an opportunity to pause and consider the societies most prone to suffer from this global problem in the future, and the greatest impacts they will bear.
The poorest
The evolving global problem of climate change looms large with inevitable social, economic and ecological challenges for the world. The process of global warming and its consequences vary from region to region, but the nature of these variations is uncertain. The changes will not occur in a fast way, nor will they only exert a negative effect: for example, in some parts of the world it may see improvement in the economy, by the fact that a warmer climate can stimulate better agricultural outcomes in countries that nowadays are too cold to have a big economy in agriculture. A new climate will be beneficial to some societies and disadvantageous to others. However, the disadvantages, especially the increased incidence of disastrous natural phenomena, far outweigh the advantages. These disasters include the increasing sea level, changes in precipitation patterns resulting in floods and droughts, greater intensity of natural effects such as hurricanes, species extinctions and other factors to be discussed ahead. We can already see the patterns of destruction emerging, but we do not yet know the ultimate outcome. We do know that those most responsible for the global warming effect are the developed nations of North America, Western Europe and China. But the so-called developing countries will feel the most negative effects of global warming, because these nations have fewer resources to cope financially, scientifically and technologically to deal with the problems caused by global warming. Given the gradual nature of the changes, and using the knowledge we’ve already gained about the impacts of climate change thus far, this paper is an opportunity to pause and consider the societies most prone to suffer from this global problem in the future, and the greatest impacts they will bear.
The poorest
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