POVERTY AND INJUSTICE OF CLIMATE CHANGE, WHY THE POOR ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE

Abstract

Climate change will hit the poor hardest and greatest because of their exposure and more vulnerability to impacts of climate change. The poor contribute very little to causes of climate change interms of their emissions either per capita or aggregate contributions as nations of the developing world. The poor are very vulnerable because of undue exposure to extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, typhoons and tropical cyclonic activities. They are also exposed to climate change because of the nature of their economic activities such as agriculture–a sector very sensitive to climate change impacts. Despite the high vulnerability of the poor, they are the least group of persons capable of helping themselves by building necessary resilience or having the resources, technology and knowledge for adaptation aimed at minimizing their harm and hurt by climate change impacts. For example, the poor are not covered by insurance to protect themselves against the risks that climate change brings. The findings of this paper are the outcome of extensive reviews of literature on environment, poverty, sources of greenhouse gas emissions and politics of adaptation. Apart from higher vulnerability and greater exposure of impacts on the poor, the paper also exposes the clear injustice and inequity of climate change which is the fact that the poor with the least contributions to causes of climate change share its greatest negative impacts.