Sign of the Times | Global south
Global South is a metaphor for underdevelopment, a reference to its colonial that saw the region exploited historically and to this day. When decoding the horrors of climate catastrophe of the most recent foods in Pakistan that left a third of the country underwater, the evidence is striking; with a 1% global carbon footprint, Pakistan received nearly 190% more rain than its 30-year average from June to August. The naturally occurring phenomena of monsoon in South Asia, a life-giving force for agriculture, is presently wreaking havoc through its erratic patterns. The reason for this is the rising global temperatures and how warm air can retain moisture for a longer time, leading to violent rainfalls or dry spells. Asymmetry in carbon emissions with the industrialized and post-industrialized countries in the Global North being the most significant contributors, the impacts of climate change, however, are more pronounced on poorer nations in the south.
In South Asia, a mix of geography, lack of livelihood diversity and specific demographic markers have placed the region to be hit more severely by climate change. The contested highlands of the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalaya provides freshwater supply to 2 billion people of Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and China and houses the most glaciers outside of the two poles. Here the issue of climate change has compounded with the geo-political disputes in the watershed.
The region could lose two-thirds of its glaciers by 2100 if we follow the UN trajectory of a 2-5 degree Celsius increase in global temperatures. This would lead to an increased occurrence of dangerous glacial lakes posing the risk of an outburst, currently 20 in Nepal and 33 in Gilgit Baltistan. Mountain ecologies of the region are amongst the most fragile; competing claims to water resources exacerbate global climate impacts. Upper riparian states can change river flow in the face of impending water shortage by constructing dams and reservoirs.
With torrential rainfalls on one end and disastrous droughts on the other, Northern Kenya and the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have rural communities at risk of starvation. Incidence of frequent hurricanes and prolonged droughts in Latin America have increased food insecurity; 7.7 million people were affected in 2021 in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
How to increase climate resilience
Financial reparations by the developed world are necessary to curb the disastrous impacts of climate catastrophes. There is, however, a need for greater regional cooperation to articulate the issues of unequal climate impact on global forums. The flow of technology like an accurate storm warning system and early warning disaster system coupled with improved communication between upstream and downstream countries is critical.
However, we are to view the issue within the realm of personal responsibility of local stakeholders. In that case, i.e. policymakers, the construction and development sector, private businesses, or government, the need to realign individual practice with the greater goal of climate resilience can’t be ignored. This is where city municipalities come in with their mandate: equitable utility and water provision. According to the World Bank, south Asian cities possess an unfortunate combination of high climate-hazard risks, a concentration of critical infrastructure and population density in risk zones, high poverty rates, and large informal settlements (about 20 per cent of the urban population). Take Karachi with its structural adjustment, deregulation, and privatization processes that have led to ‘the emergence of a First World economy with a Third World wage structure’. With the 2015 heatwaves and the now annual phenomena of torrential monsoon rainfall flooding, the harder-hit sector of the population is the poorer folks living in unserviced areas.
Just like we see a global impact of climate change disproportionally impacting poorer nations, within these nations, the more underdeveloped areas and impoverished communities suffer more.
While the urban centres boosted higher per capita carbon emissions, the remote and underdeveloped villages in Pakistan saw cloud bursts flooding their mud houses this monsoon.
Therefore an effective national strategy is critical for equitable and climate-resilient development that covers all small towns, villages, and major cities. The current paradigm in the global south puts significant cities as their nuclei with the highest concentration of massive foreign-funded infrastructure development. While the towns potentially grow unlivable because of the subsequent pollution or natural calamities, economic growth is championed over climate-specific adaptation. Increased rural-to-urban migration further reduces food insecurity and makes the population more susceptible to climate shocks.
It is important to note that building a diverse and greener economy requires funding from the global north coupled with active incentives. Currently, 70% of African exports are in the fossil fuels and mining sector; the more immediate threat is poverty, creating a case for investing in the continent’s human capital.
Only through the capacity building of communities in the global south can there be greater livelihood security.
A case in point is how many of these post-colonial nations in the global south had their indigenous practices for agriculture, water management, and biodiversity. Later Eurocentric ideas of development were implanted into the collective conscience of these nations. Historically the practice of permaculture had existed in the Indian subcontinent, later replaced by single cropping intensive farming with chemicals. This reduced the biodiversity and degraded the soil.
In the case of building practices, indigenous materials like bricks were ditched in favour of concrete and steel with higher embodied carbon. The answer lies in rediscovering the indigenous traditions of the region and looking at how communities in the past had lived in harmony with nature. There is a clear need to shift the focus from short-term economic growth to long-term preservation and protection.
Citations:
Zaman, H. (2022) Climate change challenging south asia: A way forward to adaptation and mitigation, Modern Diplomacy. Available at: https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2022/10/10/climate-change-challenging-south-asia-a-way-forward-to-adaptation-and-mitigation/ (Accessed: November 13, 2022).
Rannard, G. (2022) How Pakistan floods are linked to climate change, BBC News. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62758811 (Accessed: November 13, 2022).
Butt, A. (2022) It’s time for South Asia to talk climate, United States Institute of Peace. Available at: https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/10/its-time-south-asia-talk-climate (Accessed: November 13, 2022).
Fruman, C. and Huq, S. (2022) Opinion: Cross-border action on climate disasters is urgent in South Asia, The Third Pole. Available at: https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/regional-cooperation/opinion-cross-border-action-on-climate-disasters-is-urgent-in-south-asia/ (Accessed: November 13, 2022).
What you need to know about the World Bank Group’s South Asia Climate roadmap (2021) World Bank. World Bank Group. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2021/11/17/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-world-bank-group-s-south-asia-climate-roadmap (Accessed: November 13, 2022).
