How useful would it be if all countries used the same mitigation and adaptation strategies?

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Amey 9H1

Every country agreeing to implement the same mitigation strategies or adapting to climate change the same way would be a very ineffective way of dealing with it. For example, it would to be redundant to have every country build a two-metre-high sea wall to adapt to rising sea levels – some places might not be affected by flooding and would not need the sea wall, but other places might be at risk of flooding and need a higher sea wall, so it would be an ineffective strategy. It would also take varying amounts of resources for different countries. For example, it would take more money for a large country like

USA to build a sea wall than for a smaller country like Belgium to do the same. If every country had to abide by a restriction on the total quantity of greenhouse gases they emit, it would be unfair for it to be the same for everyone – bigger countries would have to emit lower per capita than smaller countries, which could have more emissions per capita while still being below the threshold, so it would be unfair. If countries were allocated money to help with measures against climate change, it would be ineffective for richer countries with larger economies to receive the same as poorer countries with smaller economies, because the rich countries could use the resources, they already have to implement the measures. On the contrary, poorer countries have less flexibility regarding resources and might need additional help to be able to implement those same measures. Possibly a better and fairer way of allocating funds to countries would be allocating them per capita – every country would receive an amount of money proportionate to their size, but this would still be unfair, because countries are impacted differently by climate change. The emitters, countries like China or USA, are not as affected by climate change as countries that don’t emit much: islands like Kiribati, where they are having to evacuate, or a country like Bangladesh, where they have to adapt their lifestyle as a consequence of the actions of other countries.

Some countries have to take more responsibility towards the mitigation of climate change than others because they are not all equal contributors towards it.

Everybody still needs to work together, but they do not need to all take the same mitigation actions. Adaptation does not require as much teamwork as mitigation, because countries can individually assess what would help them the most, since every country is impacted in a different way, and their lifestyles are also different. To conclude, every country needs to respond to climate change individually, but they also need to work as a team to have an effective response strategy. It would be ineffective for everyone to take the same action against climate change.