Climate Change and Vulnerability in Southeast Asia: An Essay

This essay discusses the impact of climate change on Southeast Asia, a region highly vulnerable to its effects due to its geographical location and economic conditions. The essay highlights the increasing levels of CO2 and greenhouse gases as major contributors to global climate change, particularly affecting coastal and island nations in Southeast Asia. These nations, situated between tectonic plates and within the 'ring of fire,' face increased risks of rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns, and natural disasters. The essay concludes that climate change disproportionately affects poorer nations and farmers, emphasizing the need for global cooperation to mitigate these impacts and support vulnerable communities. Desklib provides a platform for students to access this and similar essays for academic assistance.

Running head: CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Climate change in Southeast Asia
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1CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Introduction
The climate during the end of May results in a turmoil in the areas around the Indian
Ocean. This phenomenon occurs on a regular basis and the people have named it as Monsoon
(Allard, 2010). The thesis statement for this essay will be- The monsoon influences the tropical
and sub- tropical areas.
Description
A wide range of research is carried out to aid the human influence on global climate
change. The countries all over the world are becoming seriously involved in making the world a
safer place to live in. It is a concern because climate change has a major impact on all part of the
earth and there are few areas such as Southeast Asia, which are vulnerable to disaster. The data
collected on the change in global climate has focused on the findings that the amount of CO2 has
tremendously increased in the past 50 years. This increase in the use of greenhouse gases is
considered responsible behind the increase in CO2. The region of South East Asia, which
consists of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and others, was highlighted in the light of
global climate change. Mostly the coastal and island nations constitute the region of South East
Asia (Mach & Mastrandrea, 2014).
If the Plate Tectonic Theory is used in this regard, then the location of South East Asia is
in between the two plates- the Indo- Australian plate and the Philippine plate, which forms the
deep ocean trenches. The ‘ring of fire’ revolves on a circle of volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean.
The trenches are responsible for weakening the earth’s layer and the magma from the layers
creates the islands. The islands thus created have active volcanoes and largely vulnerable to

2CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
earthquakes as they are situated in the tectonic plate boundary. The areas of tropical rain forest
and tropical grasslands results in a humid and wet climate with rainfall occurring for the entire
year (Pacifici et al., 2015). The countries, which are situated in the mainland of Asia are
influenced by seasonal rainfall in the months of June, July and August and the season is termed
as monsoon.
It can be assumed from climate study that the tiny island states are more prone to
variance in climate and a long- term effect on climate. There are numerous outcomes due to
climate change such as increase in the sea surface temperature, increase in sea levels, and
variance in the weather pattern and an increase in the occurrence of natural disasters (Thornton et
al., 2014).
Conclusion
It can be concluded from this essay that the countries, which are facing the negative
impact of climate change are stricken with poverty. Climate change sheds their negative outcome
mostly on the farmers and they cannot afford to use specialized irrigation system to mitigate the
effect. Therefore, it being a global problem needs help from all the nations to reduce the stress on
the poorer nations.

3CLIMATE CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
References
Allard, K. M. (2010). Variations in Vulnerability to Climate Change in Southeast Asia.
Mach, K., & Mastrandrea, M. (2014). Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and
vulnerability (Vol. 1). C. B. Field, & V. R. Barros (Eds.). Cambridge and New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Pacifici, M., Foden, W. B., Visconti, P., Watson, J. E., Butchart, S. H., Kovacs, K. M., ... &
Corlett, R. T. (2015). Assessing species vulnerability to climate change. Nature Climate
Change, 5(3), 215.
Thornton, P. K., Ericksen, P. J., Herrero, M., & Challinor, A. J. (2014). Climate variability and
vulnerability to climate change: a review. Global change biology, 20(11), 3313-3328.