Is Climate Change Inherently Discriminatory?

The existence of anthropogenic climate change is today universally acknowledged by the scientific community. Even so, the focus of the research has shifted now towards a deeper root cause analysis into what is the extent of its impact geologically, economically and mostly sociologically. 

Generally speaking, people who are socially, economically, culturally, politically, institutionally, or otherwise marginalized are especially vulnerable to climate change (IPCC 2014). Therefore, when analysing such assumption among different communities and regions, it becomes clear that on a global scale underdeveloped countries result as the most impacted by the phenomenon and its increasingly more frequent extreme events. The disproportionate effects that climate change has on different countries belong to a part of politics and diplomacy becoming only recently a strong focus on the international stage (Yip 2022). An example is the implementation of a Loss and Damage Fund during the recent COP27 thanks to which historically more developed and polluting countries will be required to provide financial assistance to more vulnerable developing ones.

When deep diving more specifically on a local scale, we can adopt a categorical targeting which differentiates vulnerability by gender, age, income, education, ability, ethnicity and social caste (LEG 2018). By using such framework, we accommodate our adaptation strategies using locally-derived assessment tools which enable us to create a customized action plan according to the different weighted vulnerability on different societal groups.

The main root cause for this segregation of impact comes from the strong dependency that such peoples retain on natural resources along with the limited capacity capacity to respond to climate variability and extreme events. The best way to improve such effect is by integrating adaptive responses into the development planning of the local community (World Bank Group 2022).

Finally, it can be concluded that climate change and social discrimination are visibly intertwined with each other. This is a result of the disparity which has historically developed between the countries that cause climate change and those most strongly affected by it (Williams 2022). Without a doubt, racism influences the likelihood of exposure to environmental and health risks (Robert Bullard).


References:

IPCC (2014), Summary for policymakers, In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA

Gamble, J.L., et al. (2016), The impacts of climate change on human health in the United States: A scientific assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, p. 252.

Yip, L. (2022) Why marginalised groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, Earth.Org. Available at: https://earth.org/marginalised-groups-are-disproportionately-affected-by-climate-change/ (Accessed: December 1, 2022).

EPA (2021) Climate Change and Social Vulnerability in the United States: A Focus on Six Impacts. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 430-R-21-003.

Least Developed Countries Expert Group (2018), Considerations regarding vulnerable groups,communities and ecosystems in the context of the national adaptation plans. UNFCCC, Bonn

Poverty and climate change: reducing the vulnerability of the poor through adaptation, (2002), World Bank Group, Washington, D.C.


Jeremy Williams (2022), Why is climate change inherently racism, BCC

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