Should African countries be paid for climate change?

in STEMGeekslast year

This year in Nigeria is one that everyone would wish to forget as much as possible. Things have been rather tough. Inflation is at an all-time high, foods are super-expensive, kidnappings here and there, and to cap it all, a flood that submerged almost 1/3 of an entire region of the country.

Of all the eventful happenings, one seems to have generated a lot of ruckus, not only within the country but all over the world. The flooding that cost lives and properties was attributed to one of the effects of climate change. Apparently, the attribution is right. Erratic precipitation that could see some places experiencing too much or too little rain is one of the signature effects of climate change.

So, why did it generate ruckus?

A few weeks after, the flooding, November 20 to be precise, was the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), in Sharma Egypt. In his address, Nigerian president boldly demanded that African countries should rather be paid for the damaging effects climate change has caused the continent, rather being asked to contribute financially towards mitigating the effects of climate change globally.

And his reasons appear to be logical.

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Cooking with firewood may be a source of emission. But the total emission from cooking with firewood from poor countries is not comparable to emissions from industrialized nations.

Climate change is driven by the emission of greenhouse gases. The gases form a layer of impediment against the return of reflected solar radiation back into the upper stratosphere. Once this solar radiation become trapped in our atmosphere, the planet gets heated up.

Of course, this shouldn't be a problem ordinarily, as this phenomenon is touted as the number event that moved the planet out of the ice age. But the average global temperature keep rising as more and more of the greenhouse gases keep on being emitted by the actions of man. Since the entire planet shares a single atmosphere, it doesn't matter which part of the world the emissions are from, the whole world suffers its consequences.

Greenhouse gases are emitted when natural processes such as respiration and volcanic eruption takes place. They are also emitted as a result of burning of fossil fuels, burning of vegetation, removal of vegetation layers, and several other anthropogenic activities. The initial argument was that since every country contribute to global emission, then each country should be financially responsible towards efforts to mitigate the climate changing effects of these gases.

However, statistics have shown that 3 countries - India, China, and the United States are responsible for more than 50 percent of greenhouse gases emission globally. A more inclusive statistics is that the top 20 countries when it comes to climate changing emissions are responsible for more than 80 percent of annual global emission.

And, guess what!

Not a single African country is in the world's top 20 emitter of greenhouse gases.

However, when. it comes to the debilitating effects of climate change, African countries have been at the receiving end of the largest portion. It appears the greatest effects of climate change is felt downstream of where the greatest amount of greenhouse gases have been emitted. This year alone, Nigeria has lost hundreds of her citizens to flooding, millions in dollars of properties have been destroyed, and climate change-fueled insecurity keep claiming lives and properties as well as creating hunger in the land.

African countries remain one of the poorest in the world with about 1/3 of its 1.4 billion inhabitants living below the poverty line. Nigeria as a country in Africa takes the largest chunk of this poverty stat.

Thus, asking for a country like Nigeria to pay for climate change sounds totally illogical and would seems like a gross injustice if the available data emissions and climate change-related disasters are anything to go by. Instead, countries who contribute very little to emissions but suffers huge loss due to climate change related disasters should be adequately compensated from the climate change mitigation coiffeur.

And it seems that's the general agreement at the just concluded 27th climate conference.

What do you think?

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It's sad to see how multiple rich countries are blaming climate change on others, even when rich countries are the ones who are causing the majority of emissions.

Giving compensation to poor countries suffering from climate change is important, but hopefully rich countries will not stop doing emission reduction only because they can think they can only pay for the damages. As ultimately, the worst damages can't be fixed with money. They could be prevented in advance.

As ultimately, the worst damages can't be fixed with money. They could be prevented in advance.

This is the bitter truth. You can only throw money at a problem, it does not mean that the problem will go away. Paying poor countries may be palliative in the short term. Money can't bring back lost lives and neither will it stop future climate-related disasters.

It's been a while. Hope you are good?

As long as we give value to things only by measuring them with money, we'll see a ton of unnecessary pain and suffering in the world.

I'm good. I'm glad to see you here, hope you're good too?

We are trying to pull through here. It's been tough, but we are holding out.

I know I'm late in the game, but I recently watched a documentary called Cowspiracy (I've been hearing it recommended highly for many years but only now found the time to watch it) and it's basically saying that climate change would stop in its tracks if everybody became plant-based (vegetarian, not necessarily vegan, if I understood correctly). And, if I understood Gary Yourofsky correctly in his The Most Important Speech You Will Ever Hear, world hunger would also cease to exist!

And, do you think they are right?

According to what they showed in the doc and the talks, yes. But I haven't studied the issue enough independently, nor did I listen to any counter-arguments, to have a more secure opinion.

This is an interesting question. I lament the situation in Nigeria, here in Venezuela there have also been major floods in recent months, which have destroyed homes and taken lives.

I think that no or almost no country in Africa should pay anything for "fixing" climate change because they are not responsible like other countries. But I don't know if I agree that countries like Nigeria should be compensated economically. It's not because they don't deserve it but because that money is not going to reach the common people, it's going into the hands of politicians and powerful people who are not necessarily good people. You and I live in third world countries and we know this is the case. The ideal would be the donation or voluntary help directly to citizens and small villages through cryptocurrencies, but unfortunately we are still far away from that. Perhaps paying the country is the best solution for now, I don't know if am right. I hope a win-win solution is found for everyone in Nigeria. Best Regards!

I totally agree with what you said. It is highly unlikely that any compensation paid to the government will reach the people as it should. Maybe only a small percentage will reach those that are bearing the brunt of climate change. Compensating the common man through crypto and blockchain technology would have been an excellent way to solve the problem, but as you said, we are still a long way off as we still have people who think crypto is a ruse.

Thanks a lot for this wonderful comment.

Cheers.

It is a good perspective! I don't know how to answer but for sure , global problems should be solved together by everyone despite where it is the problem, like health or environmental problems
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