Climate Change Overview

Sub-Saharan Africa

Primary Climate Threats: Severe droughts, desertification, extreme flooding, rapid temperature increases.

Notable Countries: Chad, Somalia, Central African Republic, Sudan.

Context: High vulnerability due to economic dependence on rain-fed agriculture and pre-existing challenges like poverty and conflict.

South Asia

Primary Climate Threats: Extreme heatwaves, glacial melt, intense monsoon flooding, and sea-level rise.

Notable Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan.

Context: Dense populations in low-lying coastal and river delta areas amplify the human and economic costs of these events.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

Primary Climate Threats: Sea-level rise (an existential threat), coastal erosion, powerful tropical cyclones, saltwater intrusion into freshwater lenses.

Notable Countries: Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Caribbean); Maldives, Tuvalu (Pacific).

Context: These nations face the potential of becoming uninhabitable despite contributing minimally to global emissions.

Central America

Primary Climate Threats: Intense droughts in the "Dry Corridor," devastating hurricanes, and changing rainfall patterns.

Notable Countries: Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua.

Context: These climate impacts are a key driver of food insecurity and migration in the region.

United States

Primary Climate Threats: More frequent and intense wildfires, powerful hurricanes and storm surges, severe droughts and heatwaves, and widespread flooding.

Notable Impact Areas:

- West & Southwest: Catastrophic wildfires (California, Oregon), prolonged "megadroughts" straining water resources (Colorado River Basin).

- Gulf Coast & Southeast: Stronger, wetter hurricanes causing massive flooding and wind damage (Florida, Louisiana); sea-level rise and "sunny day" flooding (Miami, Carolinas).

- Midwest & Great Plains: Increased frequency of both destructive flooding and agricultural droughts, disrupting farming.

Context: The U.S. faces immense economic costs from climate-related disasters, often exceeding $100 billion annually in recent years. While it has a high capacity to adapt, the scale and pace of impacts are testing infrastructure and response systems.