As part of Sustainable Development Week (#kekeviikko) we are publishing several blog series on the effects that climate change has in low-income countries and actions which mitigate climate change. This blog series focuses on Mozambique.

We now continue with an interview with a young Mozambican student. The student says that his parents are farmers, and that they are suffering from climate change. These days the seeds they sow produce a smaller harvest than before. It is also hot more often than before, which causes health issues. And thirdly many rivers and lakes shrink faster after the rains.

If climate change is not stopped, he thinks that the weather will get even hotter, and there will not be enough rain. He is worried that these developments will lead to many animal and plant species becoming extinct.

His fellow student also thinks about climate change from the perspective of the country’s economy. She thinks that climate change will stop the country from developing as fast as it could, as things that have already been built are destroyed. This means that climate change will slow down the aspirations of this poor country to improve the living conditions of its inhabitants.

Salla Mäkelä
SYL’s Development Policy Adviser