The global risk-consultancy firm Maplecroft has recently released its first-ever Climate Change Vulnerability Index, which attempts to evaluate the various threats posed by anthropogenic climate change to the peoples of 170 states over the next 30 years. Examining likely exposure to climate-related disasters and sea-level rise as well as country-governments’ adaptive capacities, the Index distributes the 170 states under consideration into the risk-categories of low, medium, high, and extreme. As sadly is to be expected, those classified as being most at-risk are largely impoverished Southern societies: the 16 states said by Maplecroft to be at ‘extreme risk’ are Bangladesh, India, Madagascar, Nepal, Mozambique, Philippines, Haiti, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Burma, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malawi, and Pakistan. In stark contrast, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark were found to be at ‘low risk,’ while Russia, Germany, France, and the U.S. are classified as ‘medium risk.’
Green-blue and dark-blue denote the most-vulnerable areas.
