The climate crisis does not affect everyone in the same way. Historically marginalised groups face the greatest risks from climate change.
Those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are the worst affected, while those who have done the most to provoke it are the most shielded from its impacts.
We talk about this in the new episode of SystemShift, a Greenpeace podcast that explores how we can move from a world that serves the economy to an economy that works for people and the planet.
This time Carl and Joycelyn host two young climate leaders: Lali Riascos, from Guapi, Colombia, and Mateus Fernandes, from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
What makes some more vulnerable than others?
With climate change and social inequalities hitting stronger, less than half of people living in cities feel safe from extreme weather events, disproportionately affecting those who have been historically excluded, such as people in poverty, women, LGBTQIA+, persons with disabilities, immigrants, and people of colour.
Joycelyn explained that these climate impacts happen on top of very fragile systems of oppressions that already exist to make these communities less able to adapt, less able to survive in these terrible circumstances, because their survival is already limited by the systems they are living within.
Hence, the effects of climate change hit hardest in socially vulnerable areas and peripheral communities, such as informal settlements, where more than one (1) billion people live and, in many cases, the predominant population is people of colour.
That is why it is impossible to disconnect climate action from the fight against racism and other forms of social exclusion. "It's like a gigantic structure that is not only limited to climate change, but all the problems will affect the poor much more", said Lali.
Adaptation and mitigation: side by side
Climate adaptation has long been pushed back for being considered "throwing in the towel" for mitigation efforts. But mitigation alone isn't enough anymore.
With more and more extreme weather events hitting, it is clear that we are late in implementing effective adaptation measures. Climate adaptation has become imperative.
And given the scale of the issues and the historic but increasing inequalities, climate adaptation is especially critical for the Global South and marginalised communities all around the world.
"We are watching the climate crisis unfold on our phones and it just gets closer and closer and closer, until we're the ones doing the filming," Joycelyn added.
How to adapt? Who's going to pay for it?
Marginalised communities are already paying the highest price. "In Brazil, the most vulnerable communities, such as the favelas, pollute the least. But they are the ones who pay the price, literally, with their lives", said Mateus.
When it comes to the money, as we saw in a previous episode of the SystemShift podcast, the USD 492 billion that is lost every year to tax abuse could perfectly fund climate adaptation plans and projects.
"Why should a community in the global south pay for the consequences that might cost billions when they didn't cause these problems originally, but other people making a profit from it actually caused this?", Carl questioned.
And there's another valuable and ready-to-use resource that has been often ignored: the lived experience of those marginalised communities impacted.
Local leaders, their communities and collectives, are already leading climate adaptation, so governments must listen to them and work together. At the same time, administrations must take concrete action on adaptation plans and policies.
As climate change intensifies, so too must the active participation of marginalised communities in the design of climate adaptation policies.
What's our role as individuals? What can we do?
These are some concrete steps you can take for climate adaptation:
– Listen or watch the SystemShift podcast that inspired this blog post: do it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Youtube (subtitled in Portuguese, Spanish and other languages)
– Sign the Greenpeace Brazil petition to demand governments and decision-makers to take decisive action for climate adaptation.
– Get to know the communities in informal settlements. Volunteering with organisations can be an excellent way to do it.
– Check your area or city's climate adaptation plans and demand local decision-makers to take action and prioritise the voices and needs of the most marginalised.
– You can implement your own adaptation measures. It can start by protecting your house, planting trees, or even connecting with your neighbours!
