By Friday Phiri in Dar-e-salaam
Charcoal ready for transportation |
It is the development puzzle of the
21st century and perhaps the hardest of choices facing humanity;
tackling climate change, or ignore the realities of its negative effects
threatening the very existence of humanity.
Unfortunately, developing countries,
most of which are in Africa are said to be the most vulnerable despite their
negligible contribution to global carbon emissions—the primary cause of climate
change.
Sea level rise, prolonged droughts,
food insecurity are among the notable climate related events that have
increased in frequency and intensity over the years and this, according to
Mohammed Gharib Bilal, United Republic of Tanzania Vice President, is putting
pressure on the existing vulnerabilities for developing countries.
“For the developing countries, these
challenges are interacting with existing vulnerabilities to worsen the already
bad situation”, Dr Bilal told delegates at the official opening of the African
Climate Talks (ACT) for Southern, Eastern Africa and Indian Ocean states being
held in Dar-e-salaam.
The meeting, organised by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa through its arm, African Climate Policy
Centre (ACPC), is aimed at leveraging Africa’s position at the upcoming United
Nations Conference of Parties-COP 21 in Paris, France.
According to ACPC,
climate change could stimulate developing economies into adapting sustainable
development paths, through entrepreneurial opportunities to investors, and
spaces for policy makers to address equity concerns in gender and youth
policies.
However, the
opportunities from climate change are significantly attenuated by its costs, a
factor that requires a proper balance between costs and benefits so as to
carefully develop a narrative that is realistic.
A major issue at the COP
negotiations is the question of means of implementation – finance, technology
transfer and capacity building, which has remained unresolved to date.
These are some of the
issues that delegates at the ACT in Dar-e-salaam are deliberating upon and wish
to find answers to for a unified African voice.
“Climate science has been compelling
us to act. 97% of scientific findings show that climate change is real and
humans are responsible…How can our children and grandchildren understand our
failure to act in the face of such compelling evidence of impending disaster?”
wondered Dr Bilal, saying it would be a moral and policy failure if the world does
not act now when there is still a small window of opportunity.
“Climate change is about the very
existence of humanity. It is not about how many years remain to reach tipping
points, it is about the now which determines the future”, said Dr. Bilal.
And amplifying this argument is 30 year old
single mother, Emelda Muleya of Siamuleya Village in Pemba district, who is
among the over 133, 000 households requiring relief food assistance as a result
of poor yields due to poor rainfall in the 2014/15 farming season.
Ms.
Muleya only harvested 200kgs of maize this farming season, far less than her
family’s annual consumption requirement of 500kgs.
“The rainfall pattern was poor this year, so I decided to do
something that could bring me some money for additional food requirements”, Ms.
Muleya said, pointing out that traditional gardening was not an option due to
water scarcity.
With
this state of affairs, several sustainable development issues emerge: worsening
hunger, undernutrition and natural resource exploitation.
While
Ms. Muleya and thousands more are seeking to stay alive, their children may not
be getting the required nutritional content for proper cognitive development,
threatening their future and fight against number one enemy--poverty.
With
Zambia struggling with maulnutrition currently estimated at 40%, according to
the country’s latest Demographic Health Survey, the statement by Dr. Bilal that
climate change worsens the existing vulnerabilities is not far from the truth.
And the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance
(PACJA) Secretary General Mithika Mwenda has urged delegates to have in mind women,
youths and other most vulnerable groups.
“First and foremost is that issues
of justice, community participation, smallholder farmers, women and all
vulnerable communities should be captured in these discussions”, Mwenda said,
pointing out that the African civil society is concerned with interference
against Africa’s unified position in the COP processes.
While Africa prepares
for the crucial COP, its poor and rainfall dependent farmers such as Ms. Muleya
in Zambia, are waiting for realistic solutions to sustain their agriculture and
feed their families even during drought stress periods.
Therefore, ending poverty, hunger,
achieving nutrition and sustainable agriculture among other SDGs requires the
collective effort of the world to reach a clearly enforceable, morally and
legally binding climate deal without which a vicious cycle of poverty would
continue.
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