Africa and Climate Change

For many of us, climate change is such a distant problem, if it is in fact a problem. And this thinking is actually excusable, especially in the developing parts of the world. I mean we have way too many pressing issues bothering us just now - insecurity to poverty, political instability, war. Climate change however is a very real threat, a big bold threat to the survival of the human race and we no longer have the luxury of denying this anymore. It's all here: warmer temperatures in the earth's atmosphere resulting in large scale ice melting in the ice bound regions of the world, rising sea levels and oceanic acidification, increased occurrences of drought, flooding and other dangerous natural disasters. They are all in our faces now and the culprit is climate change, or to put it more accurately, human civilization; seeing as the phenomenon itself is largely influenced by the activities of human beings. 

I'd say the whole world needs to start doing something about climate change like yesterday. But I am really bothered about Africa. Here, virtually nothing is being done or even said about climate change. Because most of Africa is still underdeveloped, it contributes little compared to the rest of the world by way of the emission of green house gasses for instance. However, studies have proved that poorer countries that are less responsible for global warming/ climate change will suffer the most from it. African living spaces are more susceptible to climate change induced natural disasters. Also, we do not have the infrastructure or resources to deal with catastrophes such as droughts or floods. If we do not start acting now, in a few years, our whole economic and social life will be disrupted to a really uncomfortable level. 

All over Africa we need to be having more conversations about the climate change threat. Conversations that should draw up strategies to meet this challenge. How do we introduce clean and renewable energy alternatives, protect natural spaces like forests and water bodies, make our environments greener? I am thinking we need to embark on massive tree planting projects in our urban areas and reclaim our fast depleting forests. There is a need to check our use of certain products such as single use plastic. Waste disposal which in parts of Africa like Nigeria is done carelessly has to be conducted in a more sustainable manner now. A lot of work has to be consciously carried out, and everyone, from governments to Nongovernmental Organizations, to businesses and ordinary people like myself ought to be involved in this. I think we need at this point to look at insecurity, war, political instability, hunger, poverty and climate change as all connected, and deal with them at the same time. This is where we're at right now.