On the maps, a countryâ??s dimensions bloat or shrivel based on its contribution to the greenhouse effect and its vulnerability to climate-related health threats. Almost all of Africa deflates to insignificance in the emissions map, and balloons enormously in the map of risk.
This situation makes the climate challenge fundamentally an ethical one, with the public-health costs of global warming greatest in the parts of the world that have contributed the least emissions, said Jonathan Patz, the lead author of the study.
Dr. Patz is a professor in the medical school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.