A luscious, green canopy outlines Cauca, a mountainous municipality in southwestern Colombia. These biodiverse forests are under threat from the damaging impact of narcotrafficking, and so are the indigenous people defending them. For environmentalist and politician Sandra Liliana Peña Chocué, the price of defending this indigenous territory was her life.
When Cyclone Winston ravaged the island nation of Fiji in 2016, it came with 185-mile-per-hour winds and a massive storm surge that displaced thousands, and took away the livelihoods of thousands more. Amid the downed palm trees and debris, people became hungry and desperate.
Poor countries often have broken governments, shoddy infrastructure, and few systems in place to help when there is a mass crisis — which is why the U.N. Development Program found that there is a severe difference in how people are harmed during a climate disaster, depending on whether they live in a developing or rich country.
A hurricane hits. The terror and stress caused by the imposing wind and rain affect nearly everybody’s mental health, but perhaps none more so than expectant mothers. Then that stress and the pollutants whipped up by the storm wreak havoc on their bodies, and their pregnancies.
Use our climate map to investigate the impact of climate change across the world on those it affects most: women, people of color, and indigenous and LGBTQ people.