Although the world’s 46 least-developed countries account for little more than 1.1 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, nearly 70 percent of climate-related deaths occur within their borders as fires, floods, tropical storms and pandemics take their toll, according to an exhaustive 119-page report published this week by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
The “Least Developed Countries Report 2022 “ points out that these countries, home to 14 percent of the world’s population, face rising problems exacerbated by conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, inflationary pressures, unsustainable debt, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, pollution and accelerating climate change.
Among the 46 in Asia, are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. They bear an unequal burden from the consequences of global warming. UNCTAD sets out ways the international community can foster what it calls a fair approach to climate change and low-carbon development in them. But knowing the venal or incompetent governments in most of the poorest of these countries, it is hard to be optimistic – or, for that matter, many of the bigger governments with a responsibility to climate change as well…
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