Africa up in flames; now is time to act
Jul 05, 2005
<b>Stuart Price</b><br><br>The warnings and predictions speak of scenarios akin to biblical times. Perpetual droughts, floods, rising sea levels, creeping desertification and increased food insecurity. Reduced freshwater availability, increased malarial zones, coastal erosion and mass deforestatio
Stuart Price
The warnings and predictions speak of scenarios akin to biblical times. Perpetual droughts, floods, rising sea levels, creeping desertification and increased food insecurity. Reduced freshwater availability, increased malarial zones, coastal erosion and mass deforestation.
Many of these sound familiar to the variant weather patterns Africa already experiences. But in the 21st Century there is overwhelming evidence to suggest these potentially disastrous changes in global weather patterns are being caused by mankind’s activities.
As Africa comes into sharp focus at this week’s G8 Summit in the Scottish town of Gleneagles, there is an equally important issue on the agenda. Climate change will have an equal bearing on the continent as much as any aid increases, debt forgiveness and fairer trade access might have.
Believe the cynics, or believe the scientists, climate change is already upon us and happening now. The gradual warming of the Earth’s atmosphere will eventually change global weather patterns and cycles, which in the extreme, would have serious long-term ramifications, unless action is taken now.
Not a great problem one may think when Africa is used to such extremes, but when it is considered that upwards of 70% of the continent’s population rely on rain-fed agrarian practices for their livelihoods, even the smallest increase in the world’s temperature could be devastating.
In Uganda, for example, just an increase of 20C as a result of global warming would see the areas suitable for the growth and production of high-quality coffee significantly reduced.
A report released at the end of June by the Working Group on Climate Change and Development, titled Africa — Up in Smoke?, states that “it is well known that climate change will have particularly devastating effects on Africaâ€. It emphasises the importance to recognise the intrinsic link between the continent and global warming as it will affect the welfare of Africans for years to come.
This message was reiterated this week by Wulf Killman, the chairman of the UN food and agriculture organisation’s climate change group, who warned that one in six countries could face food shortages in the latter half of 2005 because of droughts, which, due to global warming, could become a semi-permanent fixture. “Many countries are already in difficulties...and we see a pattern emerging. Southern Africa is definitely becoming drier and the climate is changing. Africa is our greatest worry, we would expect areas which are already prone to drought to become drier with climate change,†Killman said.
Countries such as Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Eritrea, who are on the frontline of such climate extremes, already need food assistance for some 15 million people, with the situation in Niger, Djibouti and Sudan not much better.
Those who deny the changes in the world’s weather, the most high profile being US President George W. Bush, point to the fact that shifts in climate conditions are nothing new and a natural process. That may be true throughout history, but since the industrialisation of developed countries and more recently, the rapid growth of such economies of China and India, the emissions causing these changes have been man-made.
The thirst for energy has seen huge increases in the extraction, use and burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and petroleum. During this process, vast amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the Earth’s atmosphere.
In the opposite direction meanwhile, the sun’s rays upon entering our atmosphere warm the planet and providing light and heat. A percentage of these rays reflect back out in to space and others are trapped by natural levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, maintaining a sustainable temperature for life on Earth to exist. But as levels of carbon dioxide increase due the burning of fossil fuels and the discharge of other greenhouse gases, they subsequently become trapped causing the planet’s temperature to rise.
So what can be done? In spite of the forecast for the future not making for particularly good reading, there is some hope. The Kyoto Protocol, a treaty designed to slow the pace of global warming by cutting carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases, has been signed by 141 countries apart from the planet’s biggest polluter, the United States.
The Americans have repeatedly and continue to state the cuts would be too costly economically for US interests and the treaty is flawed as the emerging economies of Brazil, India and China are not required to reduce their own pollution levels
With climate change having such ominous prospects, the rhetoric on debt relief and increased aid at the G8 Summit will be meaningless unless this situation is seriously tackled by the wealthiest nations, the ultimate perpetrators of these changes. The stakes are indeed high for everyone, not least for Africa. As chair of the Gleneagles Summit, British Premier Tony Blair will have his work cut out to come away with lasting commitments from fellow G8 countries on many matters effecting Africa. But with climate change, the time to act is now before the damage is done and it really is, too late.
The writer is a journalist based in London
The warnings and predictions speak of scenarios akin to biblical times. Perpetual droughts, floods, rising sea levels, creeping desertification and increased food insecurity. Reduced freshwater availability, increased malarial zones, coastal erosion and mass deforestation.
Many of these sound familiar to the variant weather patterns Africa already experiences. But in the 21st Century there is overwhelming evidence to suggest these potentially disastrous changes in global weather patterns are being caused by mankind’s activities.
As Africa comes into sharp focus at this week’s G8 Summit in the Scottish town of Gleneagles, there is an equally important issue on the agenda. Climate change will have an equal bearing on the continent as much as any aid increases, debt forgiveness and fairer trade access might have.
Believe the cynics, or believe the scientists, climate change is already upon us and happening now. The gradual warming of the Earth’s atmosphere will eventually change global weather patterns and cycles, which in the extreme, would have serious long-term ramifications, unless action is taken now.
Not a great problem one may think when Africa is used to such extremes, but when it is considered that upwards of 70% of the continent’s population rely on rain-fed agrarian practices for their livelihoods, even the smallest increase in the world’s temperature could be devastating.
In Uganda, for example, just an increase of 20C as a result of global warming would see the areas suitable for the growth and production of high-quality coffee significantly reduced.
A report released at the end of June by the Working Group on Climate Change and Development, titled Africa — Up in Smoke?, states that “it is well known that climate change will have particularly devastating effects on Africaâ€. It emphasises the importance to recognise the intrinsic link between the continent and global warming as it will affect the welfare of Africans for years to come.
This message was reiterated this week by Wulf Killman, the chairman of the UN food and agriculture organisation’s climate change group, who warned that one in six countries could face food shortages in the latter half of 2005 because of droughts, which, due to global warming, could become a semi-permanent fixture. “Many countries are already in difficulties...and we see a pattern emerging. Southern Africa is definitely becoming drier and the climate is changing. Africa is our greatest worry, we would expect areas which are already prone to drought to become drier with climate change,†Killman said.
Countries such as Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Eritrea, who are on the frontline of such climate extremes, already need food assistance for some 15 million people, with the situation in Niger, Djibouti and Sudan not much better.
Those who deny the changes in the world’s weather, the most high profile being US President George W. Bush, point to the fact that shifts in climate conditions are nothing new and a natural process. That may be true throughout history, but since the industrialisation of developed countries and more recently, the rapid growth of such economies of China and India, the emissions causing these changes have been man-made.
The thirst for energy has seen huge increases in the extraction, use and burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and petroleum. During this process, vast amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the Earth’s atmosphere.
In the opposite direction meanwhile, the sun’s rays upon entering our atmosphere warm the planet and providing light and heat. A percentage of these rays reflect back out in to space and others are trapped by natural levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, maintaining a sustainable temperature for life on Earth to exist. But as levels of carbon dioxide increase due the burning of fossil fuels and the discharge of other greenhouse gases, they subsequently become trapped causing the planet’s temperature to rise.
So what can be done? In spite of the forecast for the future not making for particularly good reading, there is some hope. The Kyoto Protocol, a treaty designed to slow the pace of global warming by cutting carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases, has been signed by 141 countries apart from the planet’s biggest polluter, the United States.
The Americans have repeatedly and continue to state the cuts would be too costly economically for US interests and the treaty is flawed as the emerging economies of Brazil, India and China are not required to reduce their own pollution levels
With climate change having such ominous prospects, the rhetoric on debt relief and increased aid at the G8 Summit will be meaningless unless this situation is seriously tackled by the wealthiest nations, the ultimate perpetrators of these changes. The stakes are indeed high for everyone, not least for Africa. As chair of the Gleneagles Summit, British Premier Tony Blair will have his work cut out to come away with lasting commitments from fellow G8 countries on many matters effecting Africa. But with climate change, the time to act is now before the damage is done and it really is, too late.
The writer is a journalist based in London