Should some voices be louder than others?
Climate change affects some countries more than others. Look at the following heat map from The Economist newspaper. It shows which countries have experienced the most days of extreme heat between May 2017 and April 2022.
At COP events, world leaderscome together to share ideas about what should be done to slow climate change. However, only the leader of a country can make the final decision about what their country does.
Over to you!
Use the map to answer the following questions…
- Is it fair that countries can only make decisions about what their own country does at COP events? Why or why not?
- Should some countries have more of a say about climate decisions than others? If yes, which ones?
- What does the map tell you about your country? How do you feel about it?
Once you’ve shared your ideas, challenge yourself to reply to another student from a different country. How is their opinion different from yours? Why might that be?
Comments (11)
Some countries have the greatest right to make a decision in this regard, and they are those countries most affected by climate change.
One of the effects of climate change is a significant rise in temperatures, which leads to an increase in heat-related diseases and to more difficulty in working outdoors. Also, the rate of storms that will destroy homes and buildings will increase. High temperature leads to an increase in water evaporation, and this is very dangerous, as it will cause more drought.
I’m Lebanese and I live inside my country , upon this map Lebanon’s “heat and temperature increase” are between 0 and 50 . That’s somehow normal compared to other countries that are 350 and some of them are Arabic as Lebanon .
What do you think we can do to decrease this disaster to save planet ?
Okay I feel like if countries that are not affected by these climate change negatively the won't worry or care about other countries that are affected negatively by the climate change. Any voice that should be loud about this climate change should be the world should be the countries affected negatively by this climate change. I do think that we can decrease this disaster especially the rising temperature by growing trees, use non-wood products, create mini forest and go solar. I thought of this idea of cooling the environment temporally. I feel it might be crazy but what if countries collect snow in large quantities and spray it round their environment to cool it down. This can work temporally.
In my thinking I could say that that it is fair for countries to decide what their own country does at the cop events but at other side I think it is not fair because a country suffering alot of the climate change may decide not to attend some senssions which could be so valuable for it so I think the country should not decide on what it does at the cop events the cop event organisers or the experts should study the condition in the countries and basing on that condition that is how or what it should do at the cop event and it's final doings instead of it deciding to put little yet it could need more than that to solve the problem in it's country. I also think that some countries should have more say or participate whole heartedly and more than some countries because some countries are more affected by the climate change and it's effects for example if it was an event organized in our district for all villages to participate some village could have more say than others because some are affected by floods when it rains some are slums and others have poor waste management so each village could put effort according to the number, and strength of the problem so this is why countries should have more say than the others. According to the map our country Uganda has a white colour indicating non or zero I feel good and relieved about this because our country carries out amny activities to conserve the environment and reverse the climate change effects like teaching the young to plant tree in a festival known as little hands go green, planting trees besides roads, planting trees on the coloration days of kings or local leaders and many other thing so according to the map I feel our efforts have not gone to a waste and it also makes me relieved about our country's climate.
The fact that some countries climate change differ from others is a clear indicator that those countries should make their own decisions at COP events, but only if those decisions do not affect other countries. Increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food and water security and socio-economic development in Africa, according to a new report devoted exclusively to the continent, from the above map we can even see that Africa is part of the most affected countries. The year 2019 was among the three warmest years on record for the continent. That trend is expected to continue. African temperatures in recent decades have been warming at a rate comparable to that of most other continents, and thus somewhat faster than global mean surface temperature, but the thing is 2022 is the worse among them. Yes, I believe some countries should have more of a say because only the countries that are more affected understand what it feels like, according to concern worldwide Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chad, Haiti, Kenya are the five top countries affected by the climate change, what people fail to understand is that the climate change has a lot of other impacts. For example, it has health impacts, increases in temperature and changes in rainfall patterns also significantly affect population health across Africa. Warmer temperatures and higher rainfall increase habitat suitability for biting insects and the transmission of vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever, malaria and yellow fever. It also has a lot of economic impacts because countries end up having to spend a lot of money to keep the climate change from really hurting their country.
Because I am in Africa, the map tells me that the climate has really affected my country, I stay in Nigeria, where I stay in my country is not meant to be ho, for as long as I have remembered my country has been a place with cold climate and to be honest adapting is very hard, about two weeks ago the weather was extremely cold, but now it is so hot that I do not even know what to say. I feel very sad to be honest, I just wish we humans will act fast in order to save our planet.
To be honest I feel like the countries with low climate change should have more of a say than others, not because of anything but because maybe they could give us tips and guidelines on how the try to remain unaffected by the climate, we are all one earth, the thing about climate change is that it spreads it might not affect your country today, but it can affect your country tomorrow.
accurate_wombat which countries would you ask for advice?
We have been talking about what the heat have been doing to all these countries, but we are forgetting one main country, Antartica, we fail to understand that that country is basically the most affected by all the climate change and literally no one is speaking up for them. The climate change poses the biggest threat to them. According to the Australian Antarctica program, the Antarctic environment is still in comparatively good condition, but the pressures on the continent and the surrounding ocean are increasing. For example, ice shelves are melting faster due to warming of the upper ocean and lower atmosphere, the human footprint in the region is expanding. climate change may benefit some Antarctic species in the short-term, by expanding the size of ice-free areas available for breeding, or with warmer waters increasing biological productivity in the ocean. However, this gain for some will come at a cost for others, made worse by the threat of non-native species establishing and outcompeting native species, and the loss of natural values. The rate at which the physical environment is changing appears to be faster than the rate at which Antarctic organisms can adapt, placing some iconic species, such as emperor penguins, at risk of extinction. Basically, we need to do something, and we need to do it fast.
Basically, I would ask the least affected countries New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Singapore and Austria.
No its not right to make decisions on the ground realities of any single country at COP.
Climate change effects have deep connections on all parts of earth and its habitants. To measure the impacts we must take whole earth into account not some specific regoin.
Yes i do agreed with the fact that some countries which have less resources and underdeveloped must be louder to get help from the countries having rich and more sustainable. The greener and sustainable nations must extend their helping hands towards the countries having poor policies regarding to meet the demage of climate change and adopting sustainable lifestyle.
When i see my country on the map i amit it that geographically my country is in the list of countries most effected by climate change. Recent flood and 2021 record snow falling, pandemics, Covid-19 after effects on economy made it all the more difficult to work independently to cope with the situation of climate change.
Being a student i feel that young mind can help more to device strategies to make life sustainable on the earth. There must be international organisations engaging young people's minds and there must be conferences around the world lead be young minds to discuss their roles and plans in controling climate change.
In my opinion, i think that each country should have its own laws and its own opinions and that is perfectly fine with me but i think at COP events every country should agree on atleast one thing that will help put an end to/have a positive impact on the world. (and if you don't like a decision that a country has made that is their opinion and we have to respect it.)
A single country cannot heal or destroy the entire planet. The degradation of the environment is everyone's problem, and only together can we solve it. And the first step towards this would be active cooperation between people and the government and different governments. Let me explain:
Delhi ( India's capital) is blanketed by dense smog every winter. A significant reason behind this is the burning of agricultural waste in surrounding villages. Initially, farmers would harvest their crops, leaving the stalks in their fields to decompose. Within a couple of months, they'd decompose and act as a fertilizer. However, there was a problem; leaving the fields barren led to erosion of the topsoil. So, the government ordered the farmers to plant immediately
after harvest. This left the farmers with no choice but to burn the stalks, causing an environmental hazard.
Thus, a simple problem that could have been easily solved using crop rotation, turned into a problem that plagues the inhabitants of Delhi to date.
In my thinking I could say that that it is fair for countries to decide what their own country does at the cop events but at other side I think it is not fair because a country suffering alot of the climate change may decide not to attend some senssions which could be so valuable for it so I think the country should not decide on what it does at the cop events the cop event organisers or the experts should study the condition in the countries and basing on that condition that is how or what it should do at the cop event and it's final doings instead of it deciding to put little yet it could need more than that to solve the problem in it's country. I also think that some countries should have more say or participate whole heartedly and more than some countries because some countries are more affected by the climate change and it's effects for example if it was an event organized in our district for all villages to participate some village could have more say than others because some are affected by floods when it rains some are slums and others have poor waste management so each village could put effort according to the number, and strength of the problem so this is why countries should have more say than the others. According to the map our country Uganda has a white colour indicating non or zero I feel good and relieved about this because our country carries out amny activities to conserve the environment and reverse the climate change effects like teaching the young to plant tree in a festival known as little hands go green, planting trees besides roads, planting trees on the coloration days of kings or local leaders and many other thing so according to the map I feel our efforts have not gone to a waste and it also makes me relieved about our country's climate
I'm sorry that I look at this in different light in a way that fore I think it shouldn't be about whose voice is louder or not loud but I think the phenomenon of climate change is one problem that unites the whole world because sooner or later the high temperatures you see in another country will eventually come to yours if you don't fight the cause with immediate effect.So I think this is a problem of unity,the reason why some countries are safe and others are not is because there is no bridge of unity among the countries and that why everyone does individual exercises on their own without involving others or encouraging others to do the same so they just concentrate on themselves leaving the neighbor suffering.I think if we could have a united voice that all countries hear and act according to eat, for example a voice that can set a target of trees each country must be having be the end of the year and all the concerned leaders of those countries act accordingly,I don't think that with such a collective voice we can have such maps where some are fine and others are suffering,it will be good climate for all.My main message as I sum up is unity in this fight,not everyone doing what they want.