Some have said that people in tropical regions are not as good at planning ahead. They usually don't get their funding or are refuted by pointing out Polynesians as an example. There of course are exceptions. Even in Africa. But in general, they tend to be poor planners. They were saying this 100 years ago. Some recent ones have also confirmed this but are sidelined. I don't know why this has to be such a controversial topic. Just say a cold climate favors the survival of people who can plan ahead and be done with it. The best we can do is education to help along this type of thinking. This might need a change in the type of educational lessons to promote it. But even that will only go so far.
