Focus Media (Kigali)
24 August 2008
editorial
One Munyentwari lost all his crops this year. He was the lucky one. His neighbor, one Dansila, lost all her crops and the house that she and her four children had called home for 10 years. She too was among the lucky ones.
Ten other people were not so lucky; they died in torrential rain that surprised the districts of Nyabihu and Rubavu in Western province last year in November.
The authorities later explained the tragedies as a result of poor settlement. Of course it is natural to find answers within our limited frames of knowledge. However it has come to light that the freakish rain was a result of climate change.
The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. Nowhere is this more evident than in 'development' efforts, particularly in Africa.
Efforts to fight poverty have often led to diverse effects on the environment. Avaricious consumption patterns and behavior in the industrialized world have long been a major concern for the survival of our planet.
The goal of satisfying our current livelihood needs, without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to satisfy their own appears to be increasingly elusive.
Globalization, with its tenet of unfettered capitalism is producing winners in the North, and losers in the South. The next three decades, we are told, are going to be critical to the future of mother earth and humankind.
15 years after the Rio 'Earth Summit' and its passionate call to arms-Agenda 21, five years after the shambolic Johannesburg 'Rio+10' fiasco, political bickering on how to manage the Earth's resources without depleting them and endangering ourselves and future generations continues.
From Kyoto protocol to cut greenhouse gas emission (due to end in 2012) to the recent Tokyo meet, world leaders have shown no commitment to reducing greenhouse emissions. The highly anticipated Bali Meet last year flattered to disappoint! Not a single binding resolution was agreed upon.
It seems leaders of the rich world will sacrifice everything at the altar of political and economic expediency. The 'oh-we-could-do-something-but-let-us-first-deal-with-the-credit crunch, rising-oil prices-and-job losses first' excuses look like they are going nowhere.
The latest report of the inter-governmental panel on climate change of the UN has news for Africa: we are going to bear the brunt of global warming, something occasioned by the selfish consumption patterns of the developed world.
The response to this has been angry. At last year's AU summit, Uganda's irrepressible president, Yoweri Museveni, declared global warming an act of 'aggression' and urged African counterparts to demand compensation. A western journalist, tongue-in-cheek, pointed out that it was the same president who was in the process of giving away forests for industrial use.
On a profound note, it is the whole climate change mitigation strategy that is at fault; the original spirit of 'polluter pays' agreed upon in Rio de Janeiro in 1990 has been supplanted by the 'right to pollute' manifested in something called carbon trading.
Essentially what they are telling us is this: "since you people in Africa (and the developing world) do not have the means to pollute, we the developed countries will pollute on your behalf and pay you. All you have to do is plant forests that will absorb our greenhouse gases".
But, setting anger about this arrogant attitude aside, let's ask, why should we continue to plant trees while the rich in the West continue to pollute with abandon?
For one to think they can pollute because they have the money to pay connotes failure at an individual level. It also means failure of citizens of rich nations to take their governments to task on environmental issues.
According to Lord Stern of the London School of Economics, the problem of climate change involves a fundamental failure of markets. Those who damage others by emitting greenhouse gases generally do not pay.
He should know. He has written perhaps the most influential report on climate change-the 700 page 'Stern Report'. Fortunately in environmental equations there is no space for egotism and other human frailties. You get paid in kind.
When a hurricane or a monsoon is brewing it rarely considers such niceties as who ratified the Kyoto protocol; it will hit Myanmar or it will devastate Florida with the same fury of vengeance.
The main culprit for the ongoing climate change is not a lack of knowledge but rather a failure of leadership. But there are a few encouraging signs here and there.
Even as the culprits of greenhouse gas emissions are dilly-dallying, Rwanda for instance has taken the onus of leadership on cleaning up the environment.
Perhaps it is in recognition of the country's record in this area that the Africa Climate Change Forum will meet in Kigali in September 2008 to deliberate on adaptation strategies for Africa.
We can only hope the deliberations produce tangible results.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Focus Media. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
