By Abbas Nazil
Climate change is accelerating worldwide, and a new analysis highlights that developing nations—those least responsible for global emissions—face the gravest dangers.
As climate patterns shift across all 195 countries, regions with diverse terrains such as deserts, coastlines and mountains experience unique vulnerabilities tied directly to their geography.
Populations in deserts depend heavily on imported potable water, those in tropical and coastal zones face rising sea temperatures and storms, and residents of cold mountainous regions confront harsh winters requiring substantial fuel and food supplies.
These climate-linked differences shape livelihoods, infrastructure demands and economic stability.
When ecological balance is disturbed, the effects are immediate and devastating. A temperature increase of just 1–2°C can cause glacier melts, cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides in mountain regions, destroying homes, crops and livestock while threatening downstream communities with severe flooding and infrastructure collapse.
Coastal populations are forced to confront rising sea levels that submerge land, displace families and erode local economies.
Human-driven industrialization is identified as the major trigger behind these disruptions. Since the 17th and 18th centuries, the rapid expansion of coal, oil and fossil-fuel-based technologies has increased carbon emissions and spurred deforestation and urbanization.
Post–World War II industrial growth, mechanization and transportation advancements further intensified global warming.
Developing nations contribute the least to this problem yet suffer the most. A person in a wealthy country emits about 30% more carbon than someone in a low-income nation.
Pakistan, for instance, generates less than 1 percent of global emissions but remains among the ten most climate-vulnerable countries. Bangladesh faces similar impacts, especially from floods and cyclones.
Recent disasters—including the severe monsoon floods in India and Pakistan in August 2025 and the rapid melting of Pakistan’s 7,000 glaciers—demonstrate the urgency of global intervention.
These events threaten lives, livestock, infrastructure and long-standing agreements like the Indus Water Treaty, whose disruption could worsen global climate tensions.
The analysis argues that high-emission nations must support vulnerable countries through funding, adaptation measures and international cooperation.
Without decisive global action, climate change will continue to endanger human lives, ecosystems and long-term stability in the developing world.