LocationsWhy Eswatini Must Confront the Double Burden of Poverty and Climate Change
Eradicating Poverty in the Anthropocene
October 23, 2025
Four in five of poor people live in regions directly exposed to climate and for countries like Eswatini, classified as lower-middle-income, this dual burden is especially severe.
UNDP
On 17 October, the world paused to reflect on one of humanity’s most enduring challenges: poverty. The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is not only a moment to take stock of progress but also a time to grapple with new realities reshaping deprivation in the 21st century. Poverty today is not simply a matter of low income or inadequate services; it is increasingly about survival amid overlapping shocks of climate change, inequality, and fragility.
This year’s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025, released by UNDP and Oxford University, delivers a sobering message: poverty is no longer a standalone socio-economic condition. It is a lived experience compounded by climate hazards. Nearly 1.1 billion people worldwide remain in acute multidimensional poverty, with over half being children. But perhaps the most striking finding is that four in five of the poor – some 887 million people – live in regions directly exposed to climate hazards such as extreme heat, floods, droughts, and air pollution
For countries like Eswatini, classified as lower-middle-income, this dual burden is especially severe. Long seen as a developmental paradox – small but ambitious, strategically placed yet vulnerable – Eswatini now finds itself navigating not just the unfinished agenda of poverty reduction but also the escalating battle against climate shocks. The MPI’s findings are a clarion call: in small, climate-vulnerable states, adaptation and resilience are not optional add-ons; they are the very pathways out of poverty.
Poverty Is Still Here – But It Has Changed
Globally, significant gains were made between 1990 and 2015, when more than one billion people escaped extreme poverty. But progress has slowed. The MPI 2025 shows that nearly two-thirds of the poor (64.5%) now live in middle-income countries. This is the “hidden epicentre” of poverty, where averages of growth disguise the persistence of deprivation. Eswatini epitomises this paradox. Despite a GDP per capita of $3,074 (2024), 58.9% of its people live below the national poverty line and 20% in extreme poverty. Income inequality is among the highest in the world (GINI 54.6), and youth unemployment stands at a staggering 56%, far higher than peers like Rwanda (15.6%) or Mauritius (24%). This means poverty in Eswatini is not a residual problem of the past but a present and deepening reality, reinforced by systemic inequality and weakly inclusive growth.
The rural poor, who already endure multidimensional deprivation, are the least equipped to adapt. Without assets, insurance, or robust safety nets, even mild climate shocks can push families deeper into poverty.
Eswatini contributes negligibly to global emissions, yet it suffers disproportionately from their consequences.
UNDP
A Double Blow for Eswatini – Poverty and Climate
Why does this matter so profoundly for a small country with negligible global emissions? The MPI answers unequivocally: because adaptation and resilience are the true poverty reduction agendas of our time.
Eswatini contributes negligibly to global emissions, yet it suffers disproportionately from their consequences. Without decisive adaptation, the country faces a double pummeling: poverty that persists due to structural inequalities, and poverty that deepens due to climate hazards.
This raises uncomfortable but necessary questions:
Can Eswatini continue to pursue growth while ignoring the climate-poverty nexus?
What good are economic gains if they are wiped out by droughts, heatwaves, or floods?
And why should a small country care about Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Low-Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDS) when its emissions barely register on the global scale?
The answer is clear: because without tackling climate risks, poverty reduction in Eswatini is impossible. Adaptation and resilience are not abstract global commitments; they are survival strategies that determine whether Eswatini regresses or advances.
Eswatini’s Poverty Dynamics: The Evidence
Mass Poverty Reduction study offers further insight. Poverty in Eswatini is highly persistent, meaning past poverty strongly predicts current levels. Economic growth has been non-inclusive – GDP increases correlate with rising poverty, because gains accrue mainly to a minority in sugar, textiles, or elite sectors? Let’s consider the statistics.
Rural-urban disparities are stark: 22.5% multidimensional poverty incidence in rural areas versus 10.3% in urban.
Regional inequality is severe: Shiselweni has the highest levels of multidimensional poverty.
Youth exclusion is chronic: High unemployment reflects mismatches between education and market demand.
Governance matters: Past poverty strategies struggled to uproot a majority out of poverty due to weak institutions, fiscal crises, and low productive capacities to industrialize for export.
These structural realities mean that poverty in Eswatini is not just persistent – it is structurally embedded. And climate change threatens to make it worse.
Lessons from Elsewhere: Why They Matter for Eswatini
Other countries show that transformation is possible. China lifted 800 million people out of poverty through rural investment and industrialisation; Rwanda transformed governance and agriculture to halve poverty; Bangladesh empowered women through microfinance; Brazil reduced poverty and inequality with conditional cash transfers
Eswatini cannot copy-paste these models, but it can adapt key lessons:
Invest in human capital: education, vocational skills, youth empowerment.
Pursue inclusive growth: MSMEs growth acceleration, climate-smart agriculture, rural infrastructure.
Strengthen social protection: safety nets linked to education and health.
Empower local communities: decentralised, community-driven development.
Ensure good governance and accountability: to break cycles of policy failure and improve service delivery for efficiency and growth.
But unlike Rwanda or Brazil in their reform years, Eswatini faces the added overlay of climate stress. This means every poverty strategy must also be a climate strategy.
Why NDCs and LT-LEDS Matter for Eswatini
Here lies the most provocative point: Eswatini’s climate strategies are its poverty strategies. Critics often argue that small countries should not focus on NDCs or LT-LEDS because their emissions are insignificant globally. But this misses the point.
For Eswatini, these frameworks are not just about emissions reductions for global impact – they are also about securing adaptation, resilience, and survival.
The NDC 3.0 integrates renewable energy, clean cooking, and climate-smart agriculture – all directly tied to reducing poverty and improving livelihoods.
The LT-LEDS envisions structural transformation that diversifies the economy, reduces inequality, and enhances resilience.
In a world where the poorest quartile of countries will face 92 additional days of extreme heat annually by 2100, ignoring climate strategies is equivalent to accepting mass poverty.
A Call to Action: From Recognition to Transformation
The Multi-dimensional Poverty Index findings and Eswatini’s national context converge on one urgent reality: poverty eradication and climate resilience are now inseparable. For Eswatini, this requires bold choices:
Reframe poverty policy into a policy for prosperity that is powered by climate resilience and at scale – every investment in wealth creation, job creation, must enhance resilience, from housing and infrastructure to agriculture and MSME financing.
Scale human capital investment – education is the single most significant poverty-reducing lever but must align with green and digital economies.
Empower youth and women – as agents of resilience, not just beneficiaries of programmes.
Strengthen social protection – build adaptive safety nets that protect the vulnerable from shocks.
Mobilise climate finance – Eswatini must leverage global funds not just for emissions but for adaptation and poverty reduction.
Foster inclusive governance – strong institutions and local participation are the bedrock of any transformative strategy.
Poverty in the Anthropocene – Why We Must Care
As Eswatini marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the message is clear: poverty is not an isolated challenge of income deprivation. It is a multi-dimensional struggle compounded by climate change.
In small, climate-vulnerable states like Eswatini, poverty and climate are two sides of the same coin. Without addressing climate risks, poverty reduction will stagnate or reverse. And without reducing poverty, adaptation will remain out of reach for millions.
So why should Eswatini care about NDCs and LT-LEDS? Because in this context, they are not climate documents – they are poverty strategies disguised as climate plans. They are the roadmap to help safeguard the people of Eswatini, promote development, and outline an approach where resilience is a key factor in addressing poverty.
The true question is not whether Eswatini can afford to care about poverty and climate together. It is whether we can afford not to.