AFRICA @50: TEAR DRENCHED FACES, HOLLOW EYES EVERYWHERE

By WISDOM MDZUNGAIRI

 THIS month of May is marked by celebrations to mark 50 years since the Organisation for African Unity (now the African Union) was established. The theme is “Pan Africanism and African Renaissance.”

To mark the Golden Jubilee, the AU Commission’s Youth Division and the UN Economic Commission for Africa has organised a Youth forum whose main objective is to seize the 50th anniversary celebrations to provide a platform for dialogue among selected African Heads of States and young people on major policy initiatives. This is of particular significance in view of Africa Youth decade 2009-2018. More important, it is intended to promote a youth-focused policy priority and support the vision of youth development among the urgent actions by African leaders.

The golden jubilee is underpinned by the consciousness and principles of Pan-Africanism championed by Africa’s founders, which pointed towards the realisation of a democratic, prosperous and politically stable continent. It especially recognised political freedom, particularly sovereignty and liberation, as being central to its socio-economic transformation.

Indeed, the continent has come a long way from the struggle for political independence to the post-colonial struggles for economic progress, yet Pan-Africanism remains as relevant to Africa’s development project today as it did 50 years ago.

History offers this generation, a greater chance to reflect on the past 50 years and mobilise to determine a renewed consciousness for the upcoming 50 years in fulfilling a democratic and prosperous continent by creating organic strategies for deepening sustainable development and resilient economies.

As the new generation enamored with the idea and ideals of Pan-Africanism, young people can play a substantial role and serve as dynamic agents of structural transformation for the continent’s development.

Pan-Africanism, yes, is what really inspired the Africans to find their own expression, to fight for justice and equality, and also independence of the continent. It is what pushed the likes of Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Robert Mugabe, Samora Machel, Agostino Neto, the list is endless.

Sadly, Africa remains a battleground of rivalry. The biggest challenge remains peace and security. Is Africa getting on top of those challenges and taking responsibility in managing them, one wonders?

Lumumba, for instance, Congo’s first Prime Minister whose assassination more than 50 years ago made him a liberation symbol worldwide was without a doubt in a class of his own, a statesman par-excellence. In one of his last lettersreportedly written to his wife shortly before his eventual murderhe said all through his struggle for the independence of his country, he had never doubted for a single instant the final triumph of the sacred cause to which his companions and himself devoted all their lives.

He continued: “As to my children whom I leave and whom I may never see again, I should like them to be told that it is for them, as it is for every Congolese, to accomplish the sacred task of reconstructing our independence and our sovereignty: for without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.

Neither brutality, nor cruelty nor torture will ever bring me to ask for mercy, for I prefer to die with my head unbowed, my faith unshakable and with profound trust in the destiny of my country, rather than live under subjection and disregarding sacred principles. History will one day have its say, but it will not be the history that is taught in Brussels, Paris, Washington or in the United Nations, but the history which will be taught in the countries freed from imperialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history, and to the north and south of the Sahara, it will be a glorious and dignified history.

Do not weep for me, my dear wife. I know that my country, which is suffering so much, will know how to defend its independence and its liberty.
Long live the Congo! Long live Africa!”

Have present day African leaders followed the same ideals? What has happened in Africa is momentous. The agony and anguish of the Africans at the hands of their former liberators is palpable. The heart-wrenching stories of loved ones beside themselves with grief fill our television screens as wars, poverty, hunger, civil strife continue.

Tear drenched faces and traumatised, hollow eyes everywhere.Don’t enough of us die on this continent in natural disasters? In senseless road accidents, because of violent crimes — both criminal and political violence during elections? How do we bear this again and again 50 years on?

Email: millenniumzimbabwe@yahoo.com; twitter @wisdomdzungairi

viewpoint: SO, WHO WILL COVER YOUR CLIMATES?

viewpoint: SO, WHO WILL COVER YOUR CLIMATES?: BY WISDOM MDZUNGAIRI ON May 3, we marked the 20th annual World Press Freedom Day, a time to review the state of Press freedom arou...

SO, WHO WILL COVER YOUR CLIMATES?

BY WISDOM MDZUNGAIRI

ON May 3, we marked the 20th annual World Press Freedom Day, a time to review the state of Press freedom around the globe and honour the journalists who have died doing their jobs.

We also noted that the challenges media workers face have evolved considerably since this day was established two decades ago.
In particular, besides threats to their physical safety, journalists now confront increasing threats to their digital safety. From having their laptops and mobile phones confiscated or stolen, to more insidious online attacks and surveillance, media workers are exposed to a complex array of digital dangers that put themselves, their families and their sources at risk.
In fact, hardly four days after we celebrated Press Freedom Day, Zimbabwe Independent editor Dumisani Muleya and reporter Owen Gagare were arrested and then released, igniting fears of the onset of a wider crackdown on journalists as Zimbabwe heads for a high stakes election.
Should we or not prepare for a new onslaught on Press freedom regardless of the merits of the issues? Journalists should just write about everything that may touch on people’s lives — politics, social, business or the changing climate.
So who’s covering local climates? That is still work in progress! But fast-growing Africa could be a dominant force in the world’s economic landscape for decades to come if the continent gets its act together (and uphold freedom of the Press).
Africa is “one part of the world that has got a very high growth rate that is accelerating”. But to harness the boom, leaders must be tolerant, improve technology, education, and promote freeness of speech and the rule of law, including reducing corruption.
If all of those things happen, this is going to be our decade. A role for Zimbabwe is to act to allow the continent to economically, socially and politically behave as one, through infrastructure, broad-mindedness, media freedom and trade links. Because if it can, then my goodness me, it is not only the next decade, it is going to be the next three or four.
Since the discovery of alluvial diamonds in Chiadzwa, there have been counter accusations back and forth over whether the way the diamonds were selling in India was transparent enough. While India might be losing its status as the world’s largest hub for diamond cutting and polishing to China, few Indians have achieved a significant breakthrough by creating the world’s largest diamond mine for growing rare, colourless diamonds.
Highfield East MP Pearson Mungofa and the Lovemore Kurotwi-led Zimbabwe Diamond Centre own two of the largest diamond cutting centres in the country, but argue that “red tape” has stalled the flow of diamonds for cutting and therefore beneficiation.
The price for accessing diamonds is so prohibitive so much as to discourage local diamond cutters — bureaucracy at its worst! Locals are expected to fork out $300 000 upfront while Indians are simply not required to pay this much upfront. This has bunged the expansion of the local diamond industry.
Yet, Zimbabwe can offer the industry a consistent supply, both in terms of quantity and quality, making diamonds available for use in a variety of applications where they are tested but are currently not available. The local diamond cutters’ plants are the biggest environmentally sustainable diamond growing facilities in the world.
The stringent rough diamond supply and increasing rough prices have hit local industry very badly leading to loss of business and unemployment.
Zimbabwe could, however, take advantage of China’s aggressive “Africa invest” policy, which has made it a prominent centre of diamond cutting and polishing. Between 2006-11, when globally there was a 3% fall in rough diamond supply, China recorded an over 20% increase in its rough diamond imports in carat terms and a 55% increase in value terms.
China has a vested interest in developing Africa’s infrastructure through loans underwritten by the continent’s vast natural wealth. The China Development Bank last year announced it could invest up to $10 billion in Zimbabwe’s mining and agro sectors — the investment is being repaid by diamonds.
The local industry believes that they can get a fairly large share of diamonds for cutting and polishing and secure their livelihood. The increasing acceptance of diamonds in western markets is a good sign. The very fact that these diamonds are conflict free, eco-friendly and sustainable — creating economic growth opportunity from jewellery to hi-technology industry makes its future very promising.
It’s up to our legislators how they can ensure that the diamond industry is able to leverage this opportunity to create more employment, generate forex and achieve Task Force aim of making Zimbabwe the largest hub for diamond cutting and polishing. And journalists should play their role without fear of riling the system!

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GLOBAL WARMING –DEADLY RUSSIAN ROULETTE!

BY WISDOM MUDZUNGAIRI

RED alert alarm bells are ringing in every corner of the globe –more droughts, more storms, more devastation because of climate change.

This is a planetary emergency that is impacting the world’s poorest first. In Zimbabwe, the effects could be even more destructive without any mitigatory measures or capacity to deal with the phenomenon, as to date almost 1 million people (mostly in the southern parts of the country) will need food aid starting this month to see them through the next harvest.

That is a tall order for a government that is preparing for crucial harmonised elections in the face of staring starvation. To lessen this burden for us and other poor countries, rich nations must scale up public climate finance and engage in proposals for a strong international mechanism to address loss and damage.

Regrettably, nothing of substance has really been committed towards climate mitigation since the launch of the “Durban Platform” in 2011.Despite a year and half passing, neither workstream has yet focused on concrete proposals, with general discussions and expert presentations dominating the United Nations climate preparatory meeting in Bonn, Germany, last week.

It is important that developing countries such as Zimbabwe have a mechanism that can mitigate climate change effects in the form of policies, a green fund or anything equivalent.

But it appears Africa and its supposed partners, in this case the West, are locked in a deadly game of Russian roulette with the future of our planet and its people on the line. Could this be a case of Africa doing more to save the planet and lack of leadership on the part of rich nations?

It is imperative that Africa and the world should agree an immediate ban on new dirty energy projects, stop the $1,7 trillion in public handouts to big energy firms and instead redirect tax payers’ money to support measures that will bring clean affordable energy to all.

After week-long UN climate talks closed on Friday, observers urged the process to take aim at climate-polluting energy production. The Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDCs) group reminded the West at the close of the first round of climate talks that they were doing more than their fair share to save the planet.

Despite having to prioritise poverty reduction, lack of consistent policy and being vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, there is an abundance of climate action by Zimbabwe and her counterparts. However, this is more worrying than welcome. This might mean that Western countries were moving farther and farther away from their historical responsibility.

For instance, Nicaragua, a member of the LMDCs, intends to have 94% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2017 from a share of 20% in 2007. China is now a world leader in both renewable energy power generation and manufacturing including having the largest installed capacity for wind power.

On the other hand, the United States has no national climate legislation that could spur more drastic emissions reductions while the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme is hampered by low ambition and oversupply of carbon credits leading to record lows.

Hence, instead of spearheading efforts to move the world away from climate disaster, developed countries have refused to take responsibility and jumped from one excuse to another. Nevertheless, it’s not too late. The formula for a successful climate regime over the next two decades is simple. Leadership by developed countries now will lead to successful pre-2020 dialogues. Successful pre-2020 negotiations will also lead to a successful post-2020 agreement.

Kyoto second commitment period rich nations (Annex 1) must ratify the Kyoto Protocol: Non-Kyoto second commitment period Annex 1 countries must make comparable efforts; Annex 1 countries must increase ambition of targets consistent with equity and what science demands on or before April 2014; and there must be increased levels and certainty of climate finance for developing countries through the Framework Convention.

It is our hope that Nelson Chamisa’s Information and Communication Technology ministry will ensure easy access to climate technologies for the country through the much-awaited technology policy.

As Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance co-ordinator Augustine Njamnshi has said, is it not time for countries to look at the yawning chasm between where the science says their targets should be in 2020, which is 50% below 1990 levels, and where they currently are at 13%.

It is expected that when the talks reconvene on June 3, our Cabinet ministers will consider upgrading the status of the Bonn talks to generate the draft text.

Instead of general discussions, the UN talks will need to have specific ones that highlight how ineffective current climate pollution control proposals are.

millenniumzimbabwe@yahoo.com  twitter @wisdomdzungairi

‘One-size-fits-all’ climate policy disastrous!

By Wisdom Mdzungairi

AT precisely the same time, two university scientists recently published a paper studying virtually the same data and finding little significant change.

Further, they found that any changes in these patterns, known as atmospheric “blocking”, under which weather tends to stagnate, were small compared to natural year-to-year variability. In what is always a bad sign for solid science, they found that any connections between blocking frequency and global warming are highly dependent upon the methodology they used. The bottom line — they couldn’t find much of a signal, and even if they did, they weren’t sure what it all meant.

The difference is that death and destruction sell advertisement copy, while, as the story goes, “dog bites man” doesn’t. But, in climate change, there’s a remarkable disconnection between what people read and what they think.

Well, there is another difference — a result is generally more interesting than a null result, except to certain sections of researchers. An unnamed scientist, for instance, has a long string of null results to his name and flogs them “endlessly”.

Of course, another common trick is to misrepresent the contents of a study. So it would be helpful if one deigned to, you know, tell us the author or title of the paper.

Anyway, the publication and celebration of null results is a peculiar feature of climate science. Outsiders seem quick to confuse “no proven link” with “proven no link”, which I suppose is the point.

But, our challenge has always been that partial narratives that underpin policymaking in Zimbabwe prevent people from fulfilling their potential to provide food and sustain resilient livelihoods in a changing climate.

The new research, co-ordinated by the International Institute for Environment and Development, was presented at the 7th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 22-25.

Scientists say: “Policymakers often dismiss the world’s drylands as fragile ecosystems where highly variable, unpredictable and scattered rainfall is seen as a fundamental constraint to food production that compels local people to over-farm or over-graze their land, thereby exacerbating scarcity and degradation, further reducing productivity and inducing desertification, conflict and migration.”

This ignores both the dynamics of dryland ecosystems and how communities such as those in the Masvingo and Matabeleland regions have long learnt how to live with and harness this variability to support sustainable and productive economies, societies and ecosystems.

Narratives that underpin global policymaking on agricultural development are necessary simplifications. However, such simplifications currently hide a fundamental alternative in the way of using unpredictably variable environments for food production — one in which people operate with variability rather than against it, adapt and turn variability into a valuable resource rather than resist and suffer it as a costly disturbance.

We are learning this from Kenya’s pastoral systems developed to operate in highly variable environments. In times of globalised weather volatility, this is no lesson to be missed.

Unfortunately, a “one-size-fits-all” policy response will not be viable. Instead, Zimbabwe urgently needs an alternative
macro-policy that focuses on

location-specific, decentralised, integrated, and knowledge-centric approach that pro-actively exploits diversity and variability to sustain and enhance production.

Zimbabwe, among others, has suffered from severe regional weather extremes in recent years, such as the heatwave coinciding with last week’s unprecedented hailstorms that left a trail of destruction in Harare, Rutenga and Mangwe districts. Behind these devastating individual events, there is a common physical cause, some scientists proposed. Their study suggests that man-made climate change repeatedly disturbs the patterns of atmospheric flow around the globe through a subtle resonance mechanism.

Nevertheless, the study significantly advances the understanding of the relation between weather extremes and man-made climate change.

Scientists were surprised by how far outside past experience some of the recent extremes have been. This new data shows that the emergence of extraordinary weather is not just a linear response to the mean warming trend, and the proposed mechanism could explain that.

Given the team involved, it’s unlikely that there are obvious serious flaws with this paper. This could be a major result.

millenniumzimbabwe@yahoo.com twitter @wisdomdzungairi

BEYOND THE RHETORIC: ZIM’S WATERLOO

BY WISDOM MUDZUNGAIRI

It is now acknowledged that Zimbabwe cannot achieve its development targets unless there are appropriate investments in agriculture, environment and natural resources management. Covering two-thirds of the country, agriculture can make a significant contribution to national development. But, failure to integrate climate change into the national economy is perhaps the main reason for the failure of national development since independence.

Investing in agriculture is now a constitutional imperative that is binding on the government. The institutional foundations for integrating agriculture into national development are also now in place. What remains to be overcome are the persistent negative narratives about climate change vis-à-vis agriculture that has traditionally held back development, and for all concerned actors to translate the policy reforms into actual benefits for the sector and the country.

So when Environment and Natural Resources Management minister Francis Nhema said Zimbabweans needed a shift of mind-set to put more value to the environment by avoiding veld fires, land degradation and bad mining practices, he was right.

Without an iota of doubt, human action has greatly contributed to the climate change phenomenon that has resulted in natural disasters such as droughts and floods.

Many people are suffering due to environmental problems, mainly caused by humans. Therefore, it is time all Zimbabweans should adopt strategies that scrap insignificant weather events. These policies and programmes, if implemented quickly and at multiple scales, could help avert environmental stresses.

To effectively curb environmental problems, these policies and programmes must take into account existing social, political and economic tensions and avoid exacerbating them.

For instance, Nhema said adaptation projects such as conservation agriculture and water harvesting should be taken seriously if the country was to fight the extreme weather events being experienced.

Stopping climate change only requires the commitment of all, otherwise we will have runaway climate change whose consequences are colossal. But what is runaway climate change? Dear reader, it is a theory of how things might go badly wrong for the planet if a relatively small warming of the earth upsets the normal checks and balances that keep the climate in equilibrium. As the atmosphere heats up, more greenhouse gases are released from the soil and seas. Plants and trees that take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere die back, creating a vicious circle as the climate gets hotter and hotter.

The phrase “tipping point” is heard a lot more from scientists. Once the temperature rises a certain amount, then all the ice caps will melt. The tipping point in many scientists’ view is the 2˚C rise that countries have adopted as the maximum limit that mankind can risk.

Beyond that, as unwelcome changes in the earth’s reaction to extra warmth continue, it is theoretically possible to trigger runaway climate change, making the earth’s atmosphere so different that most of life would be threatened.

As with a lot of climate science, what used to be theory is now being seen in practice on the ground. New information makes clear that reaching the tipping point is a much more immediate threat than was previously thought.

Hence the key question is: How close are we to a 2˚C rise, and when will we get there? The first thing to admit is that nobody knows for sure, but many who understand the science say the answer to this twin question is, first, that we are already very close, and, second, we might get there terrifyingly soon. In fact, the 2˚C threshold is much closer than almost anyone outside the specialist scientific community is prepared to acknowledge.

By any standard, if we care about the future of the human race, it is too close for comfort. So to the vital question of when we might reach 2˚C above pre-industrial levels; in other words, how much time do we have to curb our excess emissions? Warming is directly related to the quantities of greenhouse gases there are in the air, the chief of which is carbon dioxide.

On this evidence it is clear that drastic action is needed. Countries such as Zimbabwe and many others need to have clear climate change policies that can be understood by the people and supported by government structures.

Having attended five United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) consecutive conferences in the last few years, I have discovered that recent evidence demands that we need to cut existing emissions by between 60% and 80% in the next 40 years to stand a chance of preventing climate change becoming unstoppable, and keeping control of our own destiny.