Adaptability vs Social Justice

Climate change adaptation is about development and in turn development is about social justice. This is a truth fact as unsustainable development will lead to man made disaster occurrence and cumulative effect will later become the catalyst to negative change of nature phenomenon. While every Government aims to improve the social and economic status of its citizenry, development lacks of equity and justice will create greater social gap. Building affordable houses in the land not suitable for other use will further expose the dwellers with haphazard and high risk on health, hygiene and accessibility in which scarce resources possessed by this group will be drained faster and further. For example, spending on medical and transportation will increase.

Adaptability of an individual or community or even a country is very much depended on their capacity. Capacity can be in the range of resources such as financial, mechanism, machinery and equipment as well as the knowledge and skill acquired. In most of the developing countries, poverty is the main concern. Poor people is more vulnerable as most of their time is spent to work for survival and to improve their livelihood instead of acquiring knowledge and skills or even to equip themselves for adaptation. Asking them to spare resources and time to combat the extreme weather, flooding or drought for instance is almost an impossible task. This is not the question of they do not want to, but simply cannot afford to do so.