Increased bouts of drought, tropical storms, warmer winters and insect outbreaks are some effects of climate change. Scientists have predicted various potential happenings: whole cities could become submerged in water, food shortages will cripple countries and brutal weather conditions will make some nations uninhabitable. But what does climate change have to do with politics? 

Key Political Action Against Climate Change

1970 - The first ‘World Earth Day’ took place. Environmentalism was a growing youth movement. Since then, there have been over 200 million participants worldwide. 

1988 - The United Nations ‘Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ was first produced. These panel reports are used in global climate negotiations.

1997 - Kyoto Protocol: A historic climate plan between developed nations pledging to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The United States failed to join the treaty. 

2007 - Awareness of global warming within politics was rising. Al Gore: “Now comes the threat of the climate crisis – a threat that is real, rising, imminent, and universal. Once again, it is the 11th hour. The penalties for ignoring this challenge are immense and growing, and at some near point would be unsustainable and unrecoverable.”

2010 - NASA reported that it had been the warmest decade on record. The National Academy of Sciences released its most comprehensive report on climate change at that point: “Climate change is occurring, caused largely by human activities and poses significant risks for — and in many cases is already affecting – a broad range of human and natural systems.”

2015 - Paris Climate Accord: Designed to cut global emissions, 196 countries signed the international treaty in 2015.

Mass Migration, Economic and Healthcare Collapse

Extreme climatic conditions led past societies to collapse. 16,000 years ago, a decline of the Classic Maya dynasty in Central America and the Tang dynasty in China took place. Tropical rain belt migrations within this era have been found as the potential cause. Although civilization has adapted and developed from 16,000 years ago, climate change is likely to result in the same outcome: societal collapse. Rising sea levels will produce more frequent floods. Flooding contributes to the spread of water-borne diseases and if these spread within a population, healthcare systems already under stress are going to fail.

The number of natural disasters has risen in the last few decades. Tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes all frequent certain parts of the globe, creating inescapable damage. With damage, comes costs, and for struggling nations, it results in substantial debts. 

The 2010 Haitian earthquake crippled the country. Already designated the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Haiti’s social and economic deprivation increased as a result. 5 million people were displaced in a time where 70 percent of the population was living below the poverty line. To rebuild, the government relied on aid, where that wasn’t possible, they were plunged into more debt due to external borrowing. 

As countries steep into deeper economic decline and humanitarian crises, —  as a result of natural disasters and climate change — populations will migrate and head to nations where the situation isn’t ravaging their livelihoods. The UN has forecasted that there will be approximately between 25 million to 1 billion environmental migrants by 2050. IN a TEDx talk by Professor Grammenos Mastrojeni, he discussed the link between climate change and African environmental migration, suggesting that there is a direct causal link between climate change, land degradation and climate refugees. As the world saw during the European migration crisis, countries are finding themselves overwhelmed and unwilling to welcome those who arrive at the border. 

As areas of the earth become unlivable, populations must seek refuge in other corners of the world. Mass migration is likely to make thousands become stuck at borders with nowhere to go and of few possessions. Whilst the early 21st century watches those fleeing from war and deprivation, the shift to escape the climate will be substantial and have damning socio-economic effects.

The duty lies on governments to create legislation tackling climate change and adhering to the guidelines set out within them. There’s only so much an individual can do, activism and lowering a singular carbon footprint is a small difference, real change relies on cooperation between corporations and governments to do better. Political compromise, for example, in the form of the Paris Climate Accord, has resulted in governments taking ineffective action to combat global warming. Political issues that are already present are only going to be exacerbated at the hands of climate change.