Abstract
Hannah Reid is a long-standing researcher on environment and climate change. This book draws on case studies gathered by the Up in Smoke coalition of environmental and development organizations, including ActionAid, Greenpeace, Oxfam, Practical Action and the World Wide Fund for Nature. The book makes the case for why we should be concerned about the impacts of climate change on developing countries. Its key argument (p. 250) is that there is a need to consider a variety of alternative forms of economic growth – using ideas that are already in existence – to avoid the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change.
The book is organized around the specific arenas where climate change will have the worst impacts. These include subject matters such as food and farming, water, health, energy, disasters, cities, women, trade, migration and conflict, although the chapters tend to get shorter as the book proceeds. Each chapter is lucidly written and easy to read, proving the general background to what can be expected from climate change, and interspersed with diverse examples from various developing countries. These examples are presented in short box-type presentations, providing specific examples from different countries to illustrate how and why climate change will have these impacts. These case studies are the book’s strong point and will be of use to teachers, journalists or students.
The book therefore achieves the objective of communicating the case studies very well. The book does not, however, seek to inter-rogate the meaning of ‘human development’ or assess how ‘development’ can be a means of mediating impacts of climate change. For this reason, the book is of more value as a general introduction and illustration of climate change impacts rather than an academic analysis of human development or an investigation of specific policy proposals.
For example, it seems curious that, despite the book’s title, there is no detailed discussion of what human development means. Indeed, the Human Development Index (which the United Nations introduced to combine per capita income, life expectancy and adult literacy as a more holistic indicator than economic growth alone) is not used or referenced at all. Related concepts such as capabilities or the work of Amartya Sen (a key shaper of the concept of human development) are not discussed or referenced. Instead, the book refers briefly to the Millennium Development Goals (pp. 9–10) and then in the conclusion it refers to some broad ideas about development in general (pp. 223–50).
Possibly as a result of this approach to human development, the book adopts a very linear and general approach to climate change and development, which lists the potential physical changes to climate (such as, changes in water flow and rainfall) and then listing potential social impacts. There is, in general, no discussion of how levels (or processes) of development might act as a filter on these impacts. Linked to this, the book tends to list impacts in very general terms – as though they will be experienced by all members of developing societies equally – without considering how far impacts might vary between people with different levels of development or adaptive capacity. Indeed, according to the book’s index, the term ‘adaptation’ is only mentioned once in the book (on p. 5). In fact it is mentioned on p. 211 and p. 231 as well. But it is an indication of the style of the book that a term such as ‘adaptation’ is given so little attention. The same can be said about other terms such as ‘vulnerability’, ‘resilience’ or ‘capacity’, where vulnerability is discussed fleetingly (see p. 162) and the other concepts not at all. Yet these concepts might be expected to be central to a discussion of climate change and human development.
There is one exception to this style of discussion in the chapter on disasters (pp. 121–63). This chapter argues explicitly that levels of development can mediate impacts of physical events, stating: ‘hazards like hurricanes only turn into disasters . . . because of inequity and because the poorest and most vulnerable are left to fend for themselves’ (p. 162). It also compares Cuba (which has a reputation for strong social systems of disaster response) with the failings that occurred during the flooding in New Orleans in 2005 (pp. 160–61). This chapter also lists development activities and interventions related to disaster risk reduction, such as, diversifying economies and livelihoods, strengthening democracy and inclusive planning targeting the most vulnerable (pp. 145–52). These points explain how societies can prepare for, and mitigate impacts of physical disasters, especially on vulnerable and marginalized people. So, why are not these arguments also made in the book’s other chapters, such as, those dealing with food and farming, water or conflict?
The book also tends to be very general in describing climate change impacts and tends to mention potential worst-case scenarios as though these are the only possible outcomes. There are also very few sources and references, and sometimes controversies are glossed over. For example, the book states: ‘scientists estimate that future scenarios of water availability would see 59 per cent of the global population facing shortages of water from rivers and irrigation by 2050’ (p. 50). One might ask: which scientists? What other scenarios exist? How much of these projected changes are the result of climate change alone? Or later, the book states: ‘whether climate change brings increasing floods, storms, or worse drought, it will create havoc for poor farmers’ (p. 63). This very general statement does not discuss which social mechanisms make some people vulnerable and others resilient.
Concerning climate refugees and conflict, for example, Norman Myers’ estimates for climate refugees are cited without mentioning how some critics believe these statistics are overstated (p. 280). The discussion of climate change and conflict (p. 217) starts with the well-known generalization that climate change will make resources scarcer, and therefore, conflict more frequent. But this generalization has been questioned for years by analysts in development studies and anthropology, who have argued that social institutions and practices can mediate this relationship.
The last chapter begins to discuss wider themes of development by reviewing four sample thinkers (pp. 223–50). Jayati Ghosh (India), the late Wangari Maathai (Kenya), Manfred Max-Neef (Chile) and David Woodward (United Nations, Cambodia) are selected to provide alternative images of economic growth (p. 236). Together, they urge a rethinking of material values, greater democracy and poverty reduction. As with the rest of the book, these summaries are brief and aimed at the more general reader. They are not intended to be an exhaustive review of climate-compatible development. Accordingly, some of the examples cited to back up this discussion do occasionally lack context. For example, the book optimistically mentions the Thai monarch’s doctrine of ‘sufficiency economy’ as a good example of self-supporting economic growth (p. 245). Yet this doctrine is also widely criticized by some Thai scholars for romanticizing the past and failing to engage with Thailand’s deep inequality.
This book is therefore an introductory read and an excellent source of case studies about potential climate impacts in developing countries. It does not aim to be a deep discussion of human development or current development activities.