Climate change effects on vulnerable populations in the Global South: a systematic review

Abstract

The climate and environmental changes in the Global South have devastating effects on vulnerable populations, which have been perpetuated by socio-economic and political as well as gender inequalities and non-existent interventions to adapt and mitigate its adverse effects. Underpinned by the Protection Motivation Theory and Social-Cognitive Preparation model, this systematic literature review article depicts how vulnerable populations are impacted by climate change in the Global South. Using the empirical data from credible databases including the Web of Science and Scopus, 23 articles published since 2018 were searched, retrieved, coded, and classified with three themes emerging from the synthesised literature. The analysis of the literature confirms that climate change indeed impacts vulnerable populations adversely; the adaptability mechanisms are not applied by governments which are contrary to the international frameworks; and lastly, that such groups are discriminated against, undermined, and overlooked in societal programmes and interventions to mitigate the impacts of climate-induced disasters. Climate change impacts have severely destroyed the livelihoods of vulnerable populations and are exacerbated by socio-economic and political inequalities, with the adaptation and mitigation mechanisms deemed ineffective. Gaps in current research studies include the paucity of empirical data shedding light on the interventions provided for sexual gender-based violence victims and punitive actions issued against the perpetrators during and in the aftermath of the climate-induced disasters. There is also scant empirical data testing the adaptation and mitigation mechanisms’ effectiveness.