In the last decade the issue of climate change has been a key topic amongst scientists and politicians around the world. Much of the discussion relates to the effect of climate change and the risk it poses with regards to geopolitical stability and food security. Nowhere is this as relevant as in the developing world. Lack of funding, poor governance and underdeveloped infrastructure are some of the issues that cause climate related environmental changes the potential to devastate struggling nations. The article below would broadly discuss the challenges that developing nations, more specifically African countries, face in mitigating the effects of climate change.
What Challenges Does Climate Change Pose to the Developing World?
The particulars of climate change, and the contribution of human beings, are somewhat controversial: Issues like the effects of greenhouse gases remain a major bone of contention. Yet, it is widely held by scientists that human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, have contributed significantly to climate change in the last half century.
In their work published in July 1998, Two Perspectives on Global Climate Change, Stephen Huebner and Christopher Douglass reported that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established that global surface measurements have risen 0.5 to 1.1F since the late 19th century and is estimated to warm up by 1.8 to 6.3F by 2100. The 2001 IPCC report cautioned that increasing green house gases in the atmosphere could set in motion large-scale, high-impact, non-linear, and potentially abrupt changes in physical and biological systems over the coming decades to millennia, with a wide range of associated likelihoods”.
Changes in the environment put food and fresh water supplies in jeopardy. Much of the developing world is dependent on rain-fed agriculture. Furthermore, Climate change, and its resulting climatic shocks, would further stress already scare water resources and increase damages to forests. The 2010 report on Climate Change and Development in Africa, presented to the Joint Annual Meetings of the AU and the ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Development, warned that “climate change may undermine the ability of developing countries, particularly Africa, to meet the targets put forth in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), thereby slowing progress towards sustainable development”.
Why is Climate Change Adaptation Difficult for Developing Nations?
Adaptation refers to the mitigation strategies used to control possible damage, or to take advantage of, environmental changes linked to climate change. Some of the strategies that may be applied are: Changing Legislation- in Bangladesh a National Water Plan was enacted to deal with climate related flooding; Changing Resource Allocation and Livelihood Practices- such as the traditional Sudanese practice of Rain water harvesting.
In 2001, the IPCC noted that “actions to adapt to or mitigate climate change are more effective, and in some circumstances may be cheaper, if taken earlier rather than later”. The 2007 IPCC Summary for Policymakers, Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, considered the fact that external stresses “increase vulnerability to climate change by reducing resilience and can also reduce adaptive capacity because of resource deployment to competing needs.” Nowhere is this as obvious as in the developing world. However, many countries are struggling to implement effective adaptation strategies owing to challenges such as: HIV and AIDS, political instability, poor developmental infrastructure and mushrooming populations.
In cooperation with the Climate related institutions, both developing and developed nations have begun implementing adaptation measures to different degrees. Part of the challenge, facing developing nations is the cost of the adaption measures and balancing these measures against the immediate needs of its people. The situation is ultimately a catch-22 because not implementing such strategies would further deepen the endemic suffering of its people.
The Way Forward
Research into low-cost adaptation is in its infancy- much more work has to be done. However, more information sharing and consideration of traditional methods of conservation need to be considered.Furthermore, the private sector and the developed world need to assist their developing counterparts with expertise and financial assistance so as to improve their adaptive capacity.
The AU and ECA joint report recommended that climate change “be integrated into national decision-making so as to reduce its negative effects on resources, livelihoods and the wider economy". It also further recommended that "Africa should continue pushing for more reforms in the current governance system for climate change financing and for the quick operationalization of the Copenhagen Green Climate Fund. In this connection, countries should build institutional, technical and managerial capacities in order to effectively access and utilize these funds".
In the 2008 book, Cleaner Energy Cooler Climate: developing sustainable energy solutions for South Africa, Harald Winkler, encapsulated the feeling of many institutions when he stated that "the starting point for both energy and mitigation policy is sustainable development. Climate change mitigation policy, specifically, should start with local sustainable development rather than with goals set in climate terms."
Odilile Ayodele - Odilile Ayodele is a self-starter, strategic thinker with a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of the ...
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