Africa’s big talk on climate buried in heaps of garbage

The first ever Africa Climate Summit ended in Nairobi this week with another set of grandiose declarations, but with very little movement in doing the things that will slow climate change. Perhaps it is too early to judge Africa on the commitments it made in Nairobi. We will check the boxes a few years down the road.

The few stories I read about the summit gave the impression that again, Africa’s focus was on attracting funds from the rich countries to mitigate the effects of climate change and less on the basic actions they should undertake to impact the environment and therefore ameliorate the climate on the continent.

On the podiums, the presidents talked about investment in green technology, carbon credits, equitable global financial system, reduction of debt burden, etc and not forgetting the traditional begging bowl – environment compensation from the rich West.

Many of these presidents had left filthy environments in their countries characterised by heaps of uncollected garbage in the cities, plastics chocking drainage systems, litter in the towns and villages, etc.
Yes many of these things shall, perhaps, be solved when the big money comes in from the rich countries – whether through carbon credits, concessional development loans or fair trade and assuming it is not stolen. But by focusing on the macro issues of climate change, Africa missed a conversation on the micro issues that immediately impact our climate and environment, and are within our means to change.

Two stories in the Uganda media, in my perspective, came close to bringing the climate change conversation home. One was the Wednesday KFM Radio “Hot Seat” that airs 7pm to 8pm weekdays. One of the panelists, Edson Karuhanga, argued (to summarise the gist) that Africa’s climate change conversation needed to focus on ending poverty before lurching on big conversations about green economy, carbon credits, etc.

Africa contributes less than 3 per cent of global carbon emissions because it is poor, not because it is managing the environment well. Poverty doesn’t give Africa the options to harness the environment or manage the environment sustainably so as not to impact on the climate.
Instead, poverty makes Africans helpless in the face of climate change and reduces us to lamentations and begging. Green energy will not run African industries and support agro-production to a level that will kick out poverty, he argued, adding we Africans must use tested energy to power our industries, etc.

The other story that brought the climate change conversation home was a photograph on the front page of New Vision on Wednesday, September 6. In the photo, Archbishop Stephen Kazimba of the Anglican Church Province of Uganda was pushing a wheelbarrow laden with garbage consisting of mostly polythene bags. It was part of the clerics’ exercise to mark Africa Climate Week in sync with the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi.

Global warming and associated negative features are indeed a reality at the macro level but in this part of the world – Uganda to be precise, Archbishop Kazimba hit the bull’s eye in defining one of our biggest environmental problems: garbage!
Most of Africa – and Uganda in particular – need to first manage our garbage and other “small” issues before making grandiose commitments in Nairobi on working to minimise carbon emissions.

Some may ask what garbage has to do with the climate conversation. Garbage, especially plastics, is chocking our water systems (rivers, streams, swamps and lakes). Garbage is choking our gardens as the polythene bags render soil unproductive. Garbage is breeding diseases in multiple ways. Garbage is blocking storm drains and destroying expensively built roads.

The rich world is driving a campaign to use green energy – solar, wind, electric, etc. We don’t need to jump on that bandwagon. Our climate conversation at this point in time should focus on the basics we have failed to do: to manage refuse in our homes, villages and cities so one doesn’t wake up in the morning to find a polythene bags full of used pampers thrown outside the gate or in the storm drains.

The media can help by taking the climate change conversation from the global level of carbon emissions, carbon credits, greenhouse gases, etc and bringing it down to plastics, kaveera (polythene bags), charcoal burning and alternatives to it, wetland and forest degradation, refuse collection and disposal, etc.
By fixing the micro issues in our environment, we will be ameliorating global environment and climate.

Send your feedback/complaints to [email protected] or 
call/text on +256 776 500725.