On Wednesday, Prime Minister Josaia Bainimarama of Fiji addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the threat of climate change. As a Pacific Island state, Fiji is already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change; Bainimarama spoke of plans underway to relocate some Fijian villages due to rising sea levels. He urged the general assembly to take action at the upcoming climate change conference in Paris.
Bainimarama’s grievances are well founded. Fiji is just one of many poor countries already experiencing the effects of climate change. A severe drought has cut South Africa’s maize crop by a third, and Zimbabwe has cut its economic-growth forecast from 3.2 percent to 1.5 percent due to a drought-plagued agricultural sector.
This drought crisis is only predicted to worsen due to the strengthening of El Nino, a weather phenomenon caused by warmer waters in the Pacific ocean. Although a natural, cyclical phenomenon, El Nino is intensified significantly by rising global temperatures.
Evidence of climate change is clear and present. NASA has recorded phenomena ranging from a 17-centimeter increase in average global sea levels to rapid ice loss in Antarctica. Yet some politicians either refuse to acknowledge its significance or, worse yet, deny its existence entirely. In the U.S., Sen. Ted Cruz and several others have been known to deny the realities of climate change, claiming it's a hoax that hinders the American economy.
In the United Kingdom, a 2014 poll of 119 members of Parliament revealed 53 percent of conservative members considered climate change a "widespread theory" that had "not conclusively been proved," and 18 percent even called it "environmentalist propaganda."
I find this incredibly unfair. It is far too easy for these politicians to refute the importance of climate change because highly developed nations such as the U.S. and U.K. will not be the first to experience its consequences. Instead, it is poor countries that will suffer.
Standard & Poor conducted a study in which it ranked country vulnerability to climate change. It generated these rankings using factors such as population living below five meters altitude and agriculture as a share of gross domestic product. Countries ranked most vulnerable included Cambodia, Bangladesh, Senegal and Mozambique.
These countries lack the infrastructure and resources to help its people when rising sea levels and increased temperatures cause flooding and droughts. For many, the devastation will be swift and widespread.
Even more outrageous about these politicians’ denial of climate change is the fact that the U.S. and U.K. are among the most to blame for the present-day climate crisis. The World Resources Institute ranked nations for their cumulative emissions from 1850 to 2007. Topping the list was the U.S. with a contribution of 28.8 percent, while the U.K. ranked fifth with a contribution of 5.8 percent. In essence, millions of people in the developing world will suffer because of a problem richer nations created.
Climate change is a global problem that will undoubtedly need a global solution. I am optimistic about the Paris climate conference in December, but I worry true change will not come if politicians in highly developed nations continue to bury their heads in the sand.
As Bainimarama said in his address, "It is simply not acceptable for advanced economies to build a high standard of living based on the degradation of the Earth and the seas. The time for excuses is over."
Namwan Leavell is a UF economics senior. Her column appears on Fridays.
