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trends ■ Nearly a third of the world's economic output will come from countries facing “high” to “extreme” risks from the impacts of climate change within 12 years, according to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index, an annual report produced by UK-based
risk analysis firm, Maplecroft. The index ranks the vulnerability of the world's countries to the impacts of climate change by evaluating their risk of exposure to extreme climate events, the sensitivity of their populations to that
exposure and the adaptive capacity of governments to respond to the challenge. According to the report, the combined GDP of the 67 countries classed as facing “high” or “extreme” risks is projected to nearly triple from US$15trn to
US$44trn by 2025 – meaning nearly a third of the global economy would be coming under increasing threat from extreme climate-related events. Countries in South and Southeast Asia, which accounted for one-third of all “extreme” risk nations, were likely to face an increased risk of severe flooding due to projected changes in seasonal rainfall. These would also increase the likelihood of summer droughts and, in turn,
BUSINESS MATTERS Liberty and Justice is Africa’s first fair-trade-certified apparel manufacturer, making tops and bottoms for brands like Prana, FEED Projects, Haggar and other large buyers in the United States. The company not only employs hundreds of women, but focuses on an age group that usually gets ignored in the garment industry – women who are over 30. The workers at Liberty and Justice’s factories in Liberia and Ghana are 90% female, and on average are paid 20% higher wages than their peers. “We really try to be worker-focused,” CEO, Chid Liberty, told Fast Company, “and we actually think that’s what gave us a cutting edge at the end of the day:
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Photo: Liberty and Justice
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having really devoted workers. People don’t really believe in these types of factories in Africa, because they believe that African workers aren’t motivated. I think that’s hogwash.” Soon after the first factory opened in 2009, the company
Women workers at a Liberty and Justice factory.
hired a consultant who informed Chid Liberty that he had done “pretty much everything” wrong, including hiring an initial workforce of women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. “For the typical garment factory,” Liberty says, “the average age is probably 23. I just assumed any able-bodied person could sew.” Rather than replacing the women, Liberty decided to bite the bullet and really invest in the workforce he had in place, a risk that has led to competitive productivity levels, as well as an inspiring workplace vibe. “These older women really set the culture of the Liberian Women’s Sewing Project, our first factory,” Liberty recalls. “They come to work an hour early – we never asked them to do that – they pray and sing