Generally speaking, why should Africans care about climate change? How should we explain this to the ordinary person?
The reality of climate change has dawned on us for quite some years now. Particularly for our rural communities who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods.
Probably, someone in the urban centres such as Lagos, Johannesburg or Cairo may want to be academic about it because the only thing that they see is the erratic rain patterns, with no direct consequence on their daily lives, because after all, they get their water from the taps. But for rural communities across the continent who must get all their resources from mother nature, the reality is very stark.
For instance, streams or rivers which used to be their lifeline are drying up and can no longer sustain them. As a result, agricultural productivity is going down. These people can barely harvest enough crops to take them to the next season.
These are things that these people can see. The only thing that can be done is to explain to them that their traditional coping mechanisms may no longer be adequate and therefore, they need support with additional tools.
But even to those who want to be academic; the urban dwellers for example, and to those who may not pay a lot of attention to the weather patterns, you can demonstrate to them that in most of their countries, load shedding is frequently happening because not enough electricity is generated due to water levels going down. It doesn’t matter where people are, climate change affects everyone.
So, we should all care because climate change is impacting Africa’s economy as well as the development trajectory, and its adverse impacts are costing lives. The recent flooding in South Africa and its impact on people’s lives and the economy is another example.
Climate campaigners have been stressing that Africa contributes just 4 per cent of global gas emissions, yet it is highly threatened by the climate crisis. Does this argument resonate with the developed world?
It still does and we will continue pushing it. The African Group supports the need to consider this negligible contribution, and the adverse impact the continent is facing. It is important that campaigners bring to light African interests and support our agenda of sustainable development.
