POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE: WHY SHOULD AFRICA MITIGATE?
In pursuit for sustainable economic growth, developed countries have constantlyrejected proposals to reduce gas emissions from their economic dependentindustries.Forthose countries who accepted or seem willing to mitigate, progresshas been somewhat snail paced. On the othe...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Social Sciences Research Society
2016-07-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanity Studies |
| Online Access: | http://www.sobiad.org/eJOURNALS/journal_IJSS/arhieves/IJSS2016_2/Paper35b_Madzivhandila_Niyimbanira.pdf |
| Summary: | In pursuit for sustainable economic growth, developed countries have constantlyrejected proposals to reduce gas emissions from their economic dependentindustries.Forthose countries who accepted or seem willing to mitigate, progresshas been somewhat snail paced. On the other hand, developing countries havealso raised concerns for the need to accelerate economic development of theirsocieties faced with high rate of poverty, unemployment and many other socialills. Furthermore, because of weak infrastructural and socio-economic base,developing countriesarguethat they are already faced and forced to deal with theburden of responding and adapting to somewhat visible impacts, consequencesand aftermaths of climate change related events and disasters. The complexitiessurrounding this reasoning, has hampered progress towards successful climatechange mitigation. For developing countries, particularly those in Africa, thechallenge is to comprehend the notion that putting efforts to control humaninduced climate change may impact and limit socio-economic transformation ofthe society. Even though these countries experiencedirect impact of climatechange induced heat waves, floods and drought which are forcing them toinevitably improvise adaptation strategies. On the other hand, developed countrieshave continued emitting according to unchanged patterns of their unfetteredconsumerism and production while imposing limitations on developing countries’access to environmental resources and pushing them to adopt mitigationprocesses. The paper argues that the responsibilityto curb gas emission andultimately mitigate climate change should be vested to developed countries,whose economies are dependent on industrialisation, which isa worse emitter ofgasses thought to be causing climate change. Developing countries should be given space to develop their economies and accelerate socio-economic changewithout any limitation and derailing tactics towards climate change mitigation.Furthermore, the latter need to be given support to activate strategies and practicalactivities to respond and adapt to the consequences of climate change. The paperconcludes that acceleration of economic growth and ultimately economicdevelopment in Africa will not only have positive effects on people’s wellbeingbut will contribute positively to the efforts towards current climate changeadaptation needs and those that will emerge in the future. |
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| ISSN: | 1309-8063 1309-8063 |