Global warming: why the poorest are most affected

Environmental disasters, such as floods and droughts, hit the most vulnerable populations hardest

One of the effects of global warming is that extreme weather events, such as severe storms — which cause landslides and floods like in south of Bahia is at Petrópolis—, droughts and heat waves, will become more frequent around the world. However, these occurrences will not affect everyone in the same way.

In fact, its impacts are being greater for populations with lower incomes. An example is the occurrence of floods, which generally hit the poorest areas of a city hardest, generally because in these areas there is less infrastructure, irregular housing in unsafe locations (such as hills) and people have less financial means to protect yourself and recover from an environmental disaster, points out an article from the World Economic Forum.

The consequence of this inequality is that the negative effects of global warming affect women more, who represent 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty in the world, according to the UN (United Nations) —and are heads of 40% families from the lowest-income households in cities.

Furthermore, women are the most dependent on natural resources that are under threat and have the least access to land resources, credit and decision-making structures to protect themselves from the problem.

For the same reasons, black people are also more affected by natural disasters, and that is why today there is also talk about environmental racism, or climatic. “Those most affected by the consequences of the climate crisis are black people, especially women who live on the outskirts of cities,” he comments. Amanda Costa, executive director of Perifa Sustentável and young ambassador for UN (United Nations Organization). “At the same time, the most vulnerable people are those who contribute the least to global warming.”

According to the last Global Climate Risk Index, study carried out annually by the organization Germanwatch, seven of the ten countries most affected by climate change between 1999 and 2018 were developing nations. During this period, those most affected by disasters were Puerto Rico, Myanmar and Haiti.

To reduce this inequality, the Economic Forum points to two paths. To begin with, it is necessary to include the calculation of climate risk in urban planning decisions in cities, taking into account how environmental disasters impact different communities.

Afterwards, governments must accelerate efforts to protect the most vulnerable populations and join the private sector to provide financial conditions for these people to prepare to face these climate events.

Know more: