Volume 42 Summer 2021 Digital

At the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, Ho Chi Minh City had 137 days of blistering 90 ̊F heat. Today, residents can expect at least 203 days of extreme heat. Factory and agricultural workers suffer from heat stress, with perilous conditions for those who do end up going to work that day and eliminating critical work hours for those who physically cannot. The critically important Mekong River Delta’s warming has led to climate related migration and reduced agricultural and economic output. Poorer and marginalized Vietnamese people bear the brunt of these environmental changes, a story that is shared by disadvantaged communities worldwide. From Ho Chi Minh City to Amsterdam, marginalized people have already begun to feel the devastating effects of climate change that many may have assumed to be distant challenges. This edition of the Harvard International Review seeks to highlight the outsized impact of environmental degradation on the world’s disadvantaged populations.