Climate Change Might Help the Economic Underdogs

Just recently, specialists working with the Stanford University, the World Bank and Purdue University came to a rather interesting conclusion: it is quite likely that countries which are now only developing may in fact benefit from the changes brought about by global warming.

More precisely, seeing how various nations are having their crops affected by drought and extreme weather manifestations ever more often, it could very well be that developing nations might soon be asked to engage in trading operations with them.

According to this study, the African country of Tanzania presents itself as a noteworthy case study. Thus, odds are that while the US, China and India are seeing little to no rain, this region of the world will benefit from a relatively high level of humidity.

Therefore, it can increase its corn exports to the aforementioned nations and in result experience a more than welcomed economic boost.

Noah Diffenbaugh from the Standford School of Earth Sciences explains how, “Tanzania is a particularly interesting case, as it has the potential to benefit from climate change if climate model predictions of decreasing drought in East Africa prove to be correct, and if trade policies are constructed to take advantage of those new opportunities.”

Should Tanzania go through extended dry-spells itself, it could resort to similar actions and import from countries that are experiencing better growing conditions.

As explained on Eurek Alert, the important thing is to remember that, in order for nations around the world to deal with climate change and global warming in an effective manner, it is crucial that such trading operations are encouraged.

Speaking about these global phenomena, the aforementioned researcher makes a case of how, “We find that these effects are already taking place in the current climate, and that they could become even more important in the future as the co-occurrence of good and bad years between different regions changes in response to global warming.”