An Inconvenient Truth: Climate Change and Maldevelopment

Abstract

Irma, the great hurricane that hit the Caribbean and Florida, brings to mind -again- an uncomfortable truth: Climate Change, undeniable beyond the speeches made from power and ignorance. Increasing and more destructive natural phenomena shake the world. Floods and droughts, extreme cold and heat, monumental forest fires, as well as the recent hurricanes, are daily news in all corners of the planet. According to a vast majority of scientists, these natural phenomena - the climatic horsemen of the apocalypse - are the global consequence of rising temperatures and extreme climatic variations. For most of the countries of Latin America and the global South, the processes of adaptation to global climate change acquire fundamental relevance because the survival of thousands of peoples and communities depends on this adjustment. The people with the greatest losses related to climate change belong, for the most part, to low-income groups, settled in critical areas or with limited access to basic services such as water or sewers.