climate change

IT MAY SEEM strange to focus on the damage a hurricane causes to trees. But in the case of Hurricane Felix, which hit Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast in early September, it’s clear that the destruction of some 1.5 million hectares (nearly 6,000 square miles) of forest is going to have grave consequences for the region’s indigenous people for years to come. Combine this with the likely impact of climate change, including more extreme weather, and the outlook is grim.

Already impoverished by centuries of political, economic and social neglect, the traditional livelihoods of the Miskito, Mayagna and Rama peoples are now also under threat from migration from the Pacific Coast, large-scale agriculture and commercial logging. Some are turning to more risky ways of earning a living, like gold-panning, lobster-diving or scavenging for cocaine dumped by smugglers. And the environmental destruction caused by Felix is likely to push yet more people to the edges of survival.

IN RECENT MONTHS, the climate change debate has focused on highlighting the particular risks global warming pose to impoverished populations. A UN report released ahead of November's climate change conference in Nairobi warned that Africa is more vulnerable than feared, with 70 million people at risk from coastal flooding by 2080. Across the board, efforts are being stepped up to expose the injustice of how the worst effects of greenhouse gas profligacy are being suffered by those who emit the least and are inadequately equipped to deal with the consequences.