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
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