Climate Change Vulnerability in Developing Countries, Part 3 of a Multi-part Series

According to a map provided by the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative, several of the world’s developing nations are among the least polluting yet the most susceptible to climate-related risks. In Kenya alone, the death toll reached at least 154 people, with nearly half a million displaced. East Africa is grappling with its most severe drought in years, affecting approximately 40 million people. Lake Ol’ Bolossat, once home to hippo-people and three hundred species of bird-folk, is one of many lakes and rivers dwindling across Africa due to the combined impact of climate change and human activities.

Malawi is responsible for 0.04% of global emissions but is in the top five countries to be most impacted by climate change. Malaria is endemic; they’re in the midst of the worst cholera outbreak in two decades because of dirty, stagnant water. Forty thousand hectares in the Shire Valley and Chikwawa funded by the World Bank, although ironically on hold for the moment because last year’s cyclone damaged it. Around the end of 2023 to early 2024, hundreds lost their lives as the Congo River basin was submerged due to generational floods. Similarly, in May 2023, a mudslide in Kalehe territory swept through two villages, resulting in the deaths of 400 people and leaving 5,000 missing.

“The full situation and the climate change situation, in general, is not something localized. So, the solution has to be global.” Deadly heatwaves in late March and early April gripped West African countries. In Mali and Burkina Faso, temperatures soared above 45 degrees Celsius between the 1st and the 5th of April. “Really, without human-induced global warming, these temperatures wouldn’t have been possible, so in a pre-industrial climate, we wouldn’t expect to see heat waves of this intensity at all.” Embracing a vegan lifestyle can mitigate the occurrence of climate change-induced disasters. Humanity can curb greenhouse gas emissions, preserve ecosystems, and avert environmental catastrophes by stopping animal-people meat consumption.