GLOBAL CLIMATE RESPONSIBILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL INEQUALITY: PROTECTING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES FROM CLIMATE RISKS

Abstract

Climate change is often referred to as a global challenge, but it affects the world unevenly, with both exposure risks and the capacity to adapt and mitigate climate effects distributed unevenly. Developing countries are likely to be more exposed to floods, droughts, storms, heat, sea-level rise, ecosystem decline, and food insecurity than developed countries, but their greenhouse gas emissions are relatively low compared with those of developed countries because of lower levels of industrialization. Pakistan ranks among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, despite contributing less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This article argues that such inequality turns climate change from a technical environmental challenge into a justice issue. It addresses geographic, economic, social, and institutional factors that exacerbate risk; historical and structural factors that have led to unequal responsibility; and the implications for health, livelihoods, displacement, public finance, and development. It also explains why a disaster response needs to go beyond humanitarian aid and address climate justice. Protection means that the major emitters have to take immediate action to mitigate; grants should be predictable and based on finance; support for adaptation should be available to those affected; loss and damage should be compensated; technology should be shared fairly; there should be debt reform; and affected communities should have a meaningful role. The article frames vulnerable people in developing countries as rights holders, not just recipients of aid. It finds that a differentiated approach to obligations, based on historical contribution, capacity, and vulnerability to harm, is essential to achieve adequate international climate action. A fair system needs to link global responsibility to institutions that can provide security in an actionable way in the local context. Examples of unequal exposure to climate hazards show that climate vulnerability is not just a matter of physical exposure, but is shaped by political choices.