Climate change and societies at Higher Level: Different examples from SL: Tuvalu, Russia's 2010 drought, Bangladesh's salty fields, highland malaria, Newtok in Alaska and the Dutch rivers. At HL, link the unequal impacts to responsibility and climate justice (6.2.15) and to the costs of damage (HL.b).
Practise this as you read
- Name a place for every impact.
- Explain why the same hazard harms some societies more.
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Same hazard, different harm: Climate change affects societies at every scale, from one village to the whole world. How much harm it does depends on where people live and how rich they are.
The points to remember
- Scales: local (a flooded town), national (a failed harvest), global (food prices, sea level).
- Socio-economic conditions: wealth, jobs, housing, health care and government.
- Poorer, more exposed societies are usually hit hardest and recover slowest.
- Resilience decides how long the harm lasts.
- Climate justice: impacts are unequal.
Remember it as: Who is hit, how hard, how fast they recover.
Real example (HL): Tuvalu. Most of this Pacific nation of about 11,000 people lives a few metres above the sea. Under the Falepili Union treaty, Australia now accepts up to 280 Tuvaluans a year, a planned move for a whole society at risk.
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Climate change threatens food security through changing rainfall, heat and extreme events.
The points to remember
- Growing conditions change: some crops fail; growing zones move towards the poles.
- Water stress: droughts cut yields; changing monsoons upset irrigation.
- Extreme weather: floods, storms and heatwaves destroy crops and kill livestock.
- Pests and diseases spread into warmer areas.
- Soil degradation: intense rain erodes soil; drylands face desertification.
- Impacts are uneven: some cold regions gain longer growing seasons.
Real example (HL): Russia, 2010. A record heatwave and drought ruined much of Russia's wheat. Russia banned grain exports, and world wheat prices rose sharply, so families far away paid more for bread: a local impact with global reach.
Water security is threatened as rain, snow and ice change.
The points to remember
- Glacier melt: at first more water in rivers, then less as glaciers disappear.
- Changing rainfall: some regions drier, others wetter, with more flooding.
- Groundwater depletion: people pump more during droughts, so water tables fall.
- Saltwater intrusion: rising seas spoil coastal wells and fields.
- Water quality: warmer water grows more algal blooms.
Real example (HL): coastal Bangladesh. Rising seas and storm surges push salt water into wells and rice fields. Many farmers have switched from rice to salt-tolerant crops or shrimp ponds, and families must buy or collect drinking water.
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Climate change harms health directly, through heat and disasters, and indirectly, through disease and hunger.
The points to remember
- Heat illness: heatstroke, dehydration, strain on the heart, worst for the old and outdoor workers.
- Vector-borne disease: mosquitoes spread malaria and dengue to new, warmer areas.
- Waterborne disease: floods spread cholera and typhoid.
- Air quality: heat raises ground-level ozone; wildfire smoke harms lungs.
- Malnutrition after failed harvests; mental health strain after disasters and loss.
Real example (HL): highland malaria. In the highlands of Ethiopia and Colombia, malaria cases were found at higher altitudes in the hottest years, such as 1997 and 2002. Warming lets mosquitoes reach towns that were once too cool for them.
Rising seas, stronger storms and thawing ground damage what societies have built, and can force people to move.
The points to remember
- Coastal flooding threatens ports, cities and roads in low-lying areas.
- Permafrost thaw cracks buildings, roads and pipelines in Arctic regions.
- Storms destroy homes, power lines and bridges.
- Climate refugees or migrants: people forced to move by sea level rise, drought or disasters.
- Economic costs: repairs, lost work, and rising insurance prices.
Real example (HL): Newtok, Alaska. Thawing permafrost and coastal erosion ate away the land under this Yup'ik village. From 2019 its families began moving to a new site, Mertarvik, about 15 km away.
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Not every impact is harmful. Some places gain, at least for a while, so questions often ask you to weigh benefits against costs.
Possible benefits
- Longer growing seasons; crops further north or higher up
- Less heating in winter
- More river flow and hydropower at first
- New shipping routes and summer tourism
Common costs
- Lost snow and winter tourism
- Water shortages once glaciers shrink
- Landslides, floods, wildfires, heatwaves
- New pests, diseases and invasive species
Real examples (HL): less sea ice keeps Russia's Northern Sea Route open for longer each summer, a shorter way to ship goods between Europe and Asia. But in Yakutsk, built on permafrost, thawing ground cracks buildings.
Benefits often fade: Many benefits are short-term: glacier rivers give more water only until the ice is gone.
Two societies can face the same storm with very different results. What makes the difference is their resilience.
The points to remember
- Wealth: money for defences, repairs and insurance.
- Infrastructure: strong buildings, drainage, reservoirs, cyclone shelters.
- Early warning and good government: people are told in time and helped to leave.
- Health care and education: fewer deaths, faster recovery.
- Varied livelihoods and strong communities: one failed crop is not a disaster.
Real example (HL): the Netherlands. After floods in 1995 forced about 250,000 people to leave their homes, the Dutch gave their rivers more space to flood safely at more than 30 sites, in the Room for the River programme.
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How this comes up: Paper 2 Section B (b) [7] can ask how impacts on societies differ. Name a different place for each impact: without locations, the most is 4.
Pakistan, which produces less than 1% of the world's greenhouse gases, suffered floods in 2022 that cost over US$30 billion.
Explain why the impacts of climate change on societies depend on their location and socio-economic conditions.
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