COP28: Ten countries most affected by climate change ahead of the UAE summit

The UAE is set to host the annual UN climate change summit, COP28, in November where world leaders are expected to set goals to manage the effects of global temperature increases.

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Here is a look at ten countries that are most affected by climate change.

Chad:

The landlocked country in central Africa has suffered from repeated droughts, as well as flooding, that has become worse with climate change.

Repeated droughts have had “substantial impacts” on the country’s agricultural production and have affected up to 2.4 million people, according to the World Bank.

“Persistent drought has also aided in the acceleration of desertification in the northern part of the country, causing agro-pastoral areas to decline and livestock grazing areas to shift further south,” the World Bank said.

Fatime Tchari, 34, a nomadic woman cuddles her malnourished sick horse and cattle, in a temporary nomad camp, in Lake Chad province, Chad, September 11, 2022. (Reuters)

NASA has also predicted that Lake Chad in the south-west of the country could disappear in 20 years.

As well as being hit by drought, the country has also being hampered by floods.

“Unprecedented torrential rains in Chad since early August 2022 have caused significant damage to houses, key infrastructure and agricultural land in the capital, N’Djamena, and surrounding provinces,” the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent says on its website.

Nearly 750,000 people have been affected by the floods, the NGO said, putting communities at risk of water borne diseases such as cholera.

Bangladesh:

The Asian country “continues to face severe and increasing climate risks,” the World Bank said near the end of 2022.

The average tropical cyclone that the country experiences every year costs the country around $1 billion annually, and by 2050, a third of agricultural GDP could be lost and 13 million people could become internal climate migrants, the World Bank said.

By 2050 some 17 percent of the country could also be submerged by rising sea levels and leave 20 million people homeless, according to UN estimates.

Somalia

Somalia, situated in eastern Africa, is crippled by drought devastating the country’s crop production and leading to years of failed harvests.

The country, which is grappling from famine as a result, is now seeing hundreds of thousands attempt to migrate or move to camps or cities or to neighboring Kenya or Ethiopia.

“Human-caused climate change has increased the frequency and severity of droughts, and decades of conflict have significantly eroded the country’s ability to respond to crises,” the International Rescue Committee said at the end of 2022.

Kenya

The country, like many affected by rising global temperatures, is also suffering from severe droughts.

The east African country is suffering from a loss of livestock while the country’s drought management authority has designated 11 areas of the country at an “alarm stage” which means they are suffering the worst kind of drought emergency.

Kenya head of tourism also said that between February and October 2022, the country lost 205 elephants. The country also lost 512 gnus, 381 zebra, 12 giraffes and 51 buffalo.

“The adverse effects of climate change on human societies and the natural environment are unprecedented,” the UN said in a blog post in 2023.

Haiti

Haiti is the most vulnerable country in Latin America and the Caribbean to climate change, according to Climate Links – a website set up for climate change information for USAID staff.

More than half of Haiti’s population live in densely populated cities on the coast near floodplains and in areas susceptible to landslide. Deforestation in the country has increased the country’s vulnerability to hurricanes and flooding, as well as increasing temperatures during Haiti’s dry months, Climate Links said.

Increased rainfall variability is leading to more frequent intense flooding and drought, the UN said, adding that one in three Haitians does not have access to safe drinking water.

Kiribati

Kiribati is an island republic in the central Pacific that is made up of 33 atolls and islands that stretch along the equator.

The group of islands has experienced historical warming of between 0.1°C–0.2°C per decade since 1950.

Kiribati, which is home to around 100,000 people, sits just six feet above sea level and scientists believe that at some point this century these islands may become uninhabitable as ocean levels rise due to climate change, according to Human Rights Watch.

A woman uses a fork to dig for shellfish on the reef-mud flats of a lagoon at South Tarawa in the central Pacific island nation of Kiribati. (Reuters)

South Sudan

“The effects of climate change in South Sudan have led to unusually intense rains: flood waters have forced people from their homes, leaving them without sufficient food and water,” Caroline Sekyewa, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) country director in South Sudan said in a statement on the NGOs website.

Floods in late 2022 and early 2023 affected more than 900,000 people and led to outbreaks of cholera and malaria, the IRC said.

Floods, combined with periods of severe drought in the country, have exacerbated food insecurity for many residents.

Ethiopia

A mixture of severe drought coupled with extreme flooding have increased poverty and food insecurity in the eastern Africa country.

For Ethiopia’s pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in drought prone areas, increasing aridity and recurring drought conditions present the most significant climate-hazard, according to the World Bank.

A man walks past carcasses of cows in Kura Kalicha camp for the people internally displaced by drought near Das town, Oromiya region, Ethiopia March 7, 2023. (Reuters)

India

India has now overtaken China to have the world’s largest population at 1.4 billion and is one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters.

A heat wave lasting for weeks in 2022 caused temperatures to soar above 110 degrees, with some areas hitting 115 degrees, according to the Climate Reality Project. Researchers found that between 2000 to 2004 and 2017 to 2021, India saw a 55 percent increase in deaths due to extreme heat.

The country is also facing widespread drought, as well as flooding, having a significant impact on agriculture and crop production in certain parts.

The Philippines

The Philippines, a set of islands in south-east Asia is “highly vulnerable” to the effected of climate change, according to Climate Links.

Climate risks to the islands include rising sea levels, increased frequency of extreme weather events and rising temperatures.

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