From the Arctic to Africa: Welcome to climate chaos

The consequences of global warming are already dramatic. Adaptation strategies against climate damage are becoming increasingly difficult to implement. Indigenous peoples, farmers and climate experts from different continents explain why.

This year, Europe has also felt the effects of global warming. Other continents have long struggled with extreme droughts, floods and storms. As the storms make the news, little attention is paid to the long-term damage and subsequent human fate.

Afterwards, ten representatives from the USA, the Caribbean, South America and Europe will have their say. They make clear how we are descending ever deeper into climate chaos. They describe what is already happening before their eyes and how people are struggling to survive. Climate scientists Alice Larkin and Kevin Anderson also clarify what will happen to us if the earth continues to warm.

The texts are extracted from interviews conducted in recent years. The statements are not just up-to-date, but an urgent call for decisive action.

Kayah George and Deborah Parker, Lummi Nation, USA:

With our community, we are among the first to feel the effects of climate change. We are totally dependent on our country, on the world around us: the animals, the ocean, the mountains, the water. And let’s see how everything changes. … Fossil fuels affect very directly the inhabitants of our coast, the indigenous Salish tribe. Corporations and coal deals are killing us indigenous people. Not only our people, but also our country, all our fish in the sea, our shellfish… Due to the pollution of these industries, we can no longer harvest shellfish.

Aile Javo, President of the Saami Indigenous Council, Norway:

In the Arctic we are seeing a higher temperature increase than in the rest of the world. Some scientists say that if the rest of the world warms up by two degrees Celsius, the Arctic will warm up by eight degrees. We have long been aware of the effects of climate change. We are traditional reindeer herders. Winter temperatures rise and fall. That means it’s raining when it shouldn’t be raining. Snow turns to ice. Our reindeer struggle to break the ice and find food.

Themba Austin Chauke of the peasant movement La Via Campesina, South Africa:

We always have severe droughts. Our livestock is dying. We are in a very vulnerable situation. When it rains it is so heavy that it turns into a storm that destroys our homes. We are already exposed to high risks. Our water supplies are running dry. The aquifers, the underground water tanks, are drying up.

Mariama Williams, The South Centre, Jamaica:

Being a small island, Jamaica faces many challenges related to the sea. Coral reefs, for example, are fading. We’re seeing sea level rise, although it’s a little less severe than in the Pacific, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands or similar. The daily impact on Jamaicans comes in two ways. On the one hand the drought, the prevalence of dry spells. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has calculated, in some regions it rains less and less the hotter it gets. In other regions, however, the rain is increasing. Climate change is therefore proceeding in two directions which at first sight appear contradictory. That’s why many don’t believe it. Some places will have the same experience as we do in the Caribbean – we are surrounded by water and have a hard time finding water! To drink or to cook. In Africa, freshwater salinization is progressing. This, in turn, particularly affects women. In Africa, women and girls fetch water. As nearby water sources dry up or become salty, they have to travel farther and farther from home to find water. This is dangerous for them, it endangers their safety. And their workload has increased significantly. But they are not the ones who benefit from climate finance. The money goes to big mega-projects.

Pablo Solón, former chief climate negotiator for Bolivia:

In Bolivia, in the mountains, you can visit places where there were glaciers ten years ago. Now they are gone. In the Andes we have lost about 30-50% of all glaciers. With the glaciers, the sources of fresh water also disappear. This will have important implications for the human right to water. It will have consequences for agriculture and biodiversity. We are experiencing a catastrophe in the high mountains and glacier regions.