Global climate change poses the greatest risks to the

worlds poorest countries. Discuss.

Global Climate change is process whereby human activity is warming up the
planet. The release of greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuels, forests and
using fertilisers that release Nitrogen Oxide and Carbon Dioxide, as well as
increased release of methane from cattle ranches and sewage treatment
alongside a reduction in the capability of the planet to deal with these extra
emissions, for example by cutting down forests is resulting in a rapidly
increasing greenhouse gas content in our atmosphere. This results in greater
absorption of radiation from sunlight, increasing overall atmospheric
temperatures.
The effects of higher temperatures global temperatures are most commonly
interpreted as rising sea levels, however amongst other things it will impact
plant growth around the world, Seasonal weather and extreme conditions, and
ocean currents. Each of these risks is a major hazard to different populations
around the world, however not everyone will be able to deal with these the
same way.
The first main risk is rising sea levels. This is caused by both an increased rate
of melting of the icecaps on land around the world in places such as Greenland,
Antarctica and in mountainous regions. The newly-released water will add more
water to oceans, rising sea levels. Another is thermal expansion whereby a
warmer atmosphere results in a warmer ocean. A warmer ocean will expand,
thus sea levels will rise.
MEDCs, such as USA, UK and Germany, will deal with rising sea levels with
hard engineering solutions such as building sea walls and reinforcing coastal
features such as cliffs. Planning and Building regulations will prevent any new
large scale developments in areas at risk of flooding in the near future and
accurate hazard mapping will allow long-term relocation of industry away from
land that will be flooded.
LEDCs on the other hand, such as Bangladesh and Indonesia, may struggle to
afford hard engineering solutions and may lack the authority to prevent
building on vulnerable land. Furthermore, the geographical nature of many of
the poorest LEDC countries means that they will be impacted most by the
rising sea levels, for example Bangladesh is a very low-lying country with much
of its poorest population living on the delta. A 1 meter rise in sea levels will
result in the relocation of 30 million people and a loss of 15% of Bangladeshs
land. There will likely be no serious attempt to prevent this, due to lack of
funding. The already existent pressure on healthcare and nutrition in the
country will be thrown into shambles with the migration of 30 million people to
other areas of Bangladesh, which will most likely lead to overcrowding and
possibly famine.

Another risk from global climate change is the effects it will have on weather
patterns. Decreases in regional rainfall will be felt in America, Africa and the
Middle East while wetter weather will be felt in South East Asia. A decrease in
rainfall will mean more frequent droughts and failed harvests, along with falling
groundwater levels and decreasing lake and river sizes. A rise in rainfall will
increase the chances of flooding along rivers, as well as increasing the number
of landslides in the area.
An MEDC such as the U.S.A can deal with falling rainfall with measures such as
building reservoirs and dams to make the most of the remaining rainfall,
Desalinate sea water and invest in drought-resistant crops. Advanced irrigation
techniques can also help crops to grow where they now should not be able to.
Falling rainfall is an issue however in LEDCs as they may not have the
technology available to invest in new agricultural techniques, and hard
engineering may not be possible due to limited funds. Very often, LEDCs by
nature are found in disadvantaged locations that already have climatic issues,
that when impacted further by more drought, could become totally
uninhabitable. For example, In the Sahel region of Africa, desertification is a
major problem that is rendering the land useless for agriculture due to lack of
rain and over-exploitation of the current resources. Furthermore, a failed crop
yield for the ____ farmers means the difference in life or death in extreme
circumstances as their only source of food and income is the unpredictable
harvest.
Warmer sea temperatures will result in more frequent and powerful hurricanes
and typhoons. MEDCs are able to protect themselves from this threat to an
extent through extensive hazard mapping and prediction systems, allowing
evacuations and reinforcement of buildings. However, an LEDC country may
not have access to such prediction technology and so are at a much greater
risk from large storms and hurricanes, with increased damage to infrastructure
and more lives at risk than MEDC's.
Plant growth, particularly crops, can be affected by global climate change in a
number of ways. First, drought can result in regional crop failures, devastating
local food supplies in the area that season unless more is brought in from
surrounding areas. Such bad years can be absorbed by the vast economies in
MEDCs, however a lost harvest in rural Africa might mean the difference
between survival and starvation. High temperatures will also stunt plant
flowering and germination, which can impact wild plant varieties, having knockon effects for the local wildlife.
Changes in the global climate will have knock-on effects for the Ocean
currents. Melting ice around the north pole will dilute the salty water in the
North Atlantic, which could result in a breakdown of the Gulf Stream current.
This would result in Great Britain experiencing winters 5 degrees colder than

usual and may persist for more than 1000 years. This risk from Global climate
change would only affect MEDC's, but only out of geographic positioning and
not an underlying economic or social conditions.
In conclusion, I think global climate change will in the short term affect LEDC's
much more however in the long term view I believe neither economic situation
will come off better. While the impacts of climate change may affect the less
well off countries first, the problem is not completely averted by costly
engineering schemes eventually nature will win and MEDC's will have to face
the punishment for the pollution they have caused. While LEDC's will loose out
first, MEDC's have the most to loose in the long run. That is assuming no
advance in technology however. As a final conclusion, in the next 100 years, I
think that far more people will be at risk in LEDC's than MEDC's due to global
climate change due to the very limited mitigation and adaption available to
them in the form of technical knowledge and financial power on the world
stage.
James Payne