This weekly column will cover a variety of contemporary global issues including climate action, global health, international peace and security and gender equality. I hope that this column will act as a platform to advocate for global progress and to empower young leaders to get involved in international affairs.
If there are certain global issues that you want to see covered in this column, please contact editor@etown.edu.
I hoped you enjoyed last week’s satirical column on climate change skepticism as much as I enjoyed writing it. In all seriousness, I’m a huge climate advocate. Our global community is facing impacts related to climate change across many sectors important to society: agriculture and food security, energy, transportation, water supply, human health and more. These impacts are expected to become progressively more turbulent throughout this century and into the next.
Climate change leads to the destruction of ecosystems and the disruption of human well-being through increases in natural disasters, diminished air quality and amplified circulations of diseases transmitted by insects, food and water. These global climate disruptions are impacting the planet in serious ways, resulting in a cycle of devastation for people all around the world.
In mid-March, central Mozambique was hit by Cyclone Idai. Sweeping in from the Indian Ocean, raging floodwaters demolished homes and destroyed livelihoods, leaving death in its wake.
AP News recently reported on the casualty count, nearly a month after the initial disaster. They spoke with Stephen Fonseca, the only body recovery specialist searching the rural Mozambique region, about the burial procedures following the cyclone’s destruction. Uncovering bodies from the rubble is hard work, when most tools and shovels were washed away in the flood. Most volunteers are digging using their bare hands. As bodies are found, they are given a quick and respectful burial. Without a mandate from Mozambique’s government to issue death certificates, most burials go unreported to authorities. Traditional forensic methods of body identification are nearly impossible in rural Mozambique. Fonseca is using “cultural identification” such as clothing and location in the interest of bringing families some closure.
As waters have begun to recede, the people of Mozambique have been hit with another crisis: a cholera epidemic. Extreme flooding left thousands of people stuck in camps with few toilets and little clean water for weeks.
According to The Independent, the nation has confirmed more than 3,100 cases of cholera since the outbreak was originally declared. Health workers are now scrambling to perform mass vaccinations. Doctors Without Borders describe this as “the most ambitious campaign ever conducted using the one-dose oral cholera vaccine strategy.” The organization also warns of an increase in other waterborne diseases, malaria, skin infections and respiratory diseases.
Mozambique’s next crisis will likely be severe food shortages and widespread hunger. The torrential rainfall from Cyclone Idai flooded acres of fields right as subsistence farmers were getting ready to harvest their crops. Farmers are rushing to plant shorter-term crops such as beans or green corn. The window for this “second harvest” is closing quickly. While aid groups are rationing out basic food supplies, no one dares to speak about a famine. These rations can not feasibly support people long term, especially when some men have several wives and 20 to 30 children.
Without another source of income, some families will need to be supported until the farming cycle returns to normal.
As climate change increases the likelihood of natural disasters, more members of the global community are put at risk. Our society is accustomed to a normal range of conditions, and we will be vulnerable to extremes that fall outside of this range.
Be an advocate for the climate. Make necessary changes in your lifestyle and inspire others to do the same. The planet and all its inhabitants will thank you.
