Desmond Tutu
The New African Assertiveness
23 October, 2009 | By Desmond Tutu
The intense debate about dealing with climate change has mostly
taken place between powerful players in the rich world. The battles
between coal and oil companies, whose products cause climate
change, and environmentalists have largely been fought in rich
countries. The United States, European Union and China have
driven negotiations on the international stage. Every top-level
conversation has been about what's thought to be possible - and
often what's convenient - for these strong forces.
become apparent.
The United Nations lists 28 countries as most vulnerable to climate
change, and 22 of them are in Africa.
In late August the African Union's chief negotiator at the
Copenhagen climate talks, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles
Zenawi, said that Africa would not only demand fair compensation
for climate damage from the countries that caused the problem but
would also demand that rich nations make a maximal effort to cut
emissions and hold global warming to as few degrees as humanly
possible. He has been joined by a chorus from around the continent
calling for a new approach to dealing with climate change, one that
takes poorer regions of the globe into account.
The new African assertiveness stems from new science. Even a few
years ago most developing nations viewed climate change as one
more trouble to which they could, with sufficient aid, adapt. But
after Arctic sea ice melted so dramatically in the summer of 2007,
climate scientists began re-evaluating their predictions - the earth
was reacting more violently than expected to even small temperature
increases.
It became clear that for many countries basic survival was at stake -
the low-lying islands of the Maldives, though poor, have begun
saving a portion of each year's national budget to buy a new
homeland if and when their current home sinks beneath the waves.
Kenya's ongoing drought, with the deaths of thousands of cattle and
devastating crop failures that have accompanied it, is giving us a
vivid picture of what uncontrolled climate change might bring to the
African continent.
Many top scientists have realised there is a number the whole world
needs to know. It is 350, as in 350 parts per million of the heat-
trapping gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A growing
consensus among climate scientists is that it is the most carbon we
can have in the atmosphere without causing climate havoc. Since we
are already past that level, at 390 parts per million, it also implies
that we need much swifter political action than governments have
supported in the past. It means, among other things, a serious and
rapid effort to replace the burning of polluting coal with cleaner
energy sources everywhere.
Normally, voices from places like Ethiopia, the Maldives and Kenya
are sidelined in international forums. But this time it may be different,
because a huge, positive and determined civil society movement is
building around the world to support just, fair and scientific climate
targets.
Tomorrow 350.org, an organisation I support, will co-ordinate
thousands of creative events, gatherings and rallies in almost every
country in the world to bring the number 350 to global attention.
Sharing the goals of 350.org will be internationally prominent
messengers, including the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, and NASA's top climate
scientist, James Hansen.
Groups of people will gather in the world's iconic places - from
Table Mountain in Cape Town to the tops of Himalayan peaks and
even beneath the waves, where teams of Australian divers will be
protesting on the endangered Great Barrier Reef.
Across the planet, churches will ring their bells 350 times that day; in
synagogues, October 24 is the day when the story of Noah is told.
Buddhist monks and Muslim congregations are joining in the same
kind of hopeful actions. Everywhere participants will be worried
about the fate of their own particular places - but they will also be
standing up for the weakest people and places on earth, whose
voices simply must be heard.
People in almost all the nations of the earth are involved - it's the
same kind of coalition that helped make the word "apartheid"
known around the world.
I ask all those around the world who care about Africa to support
climate fairness on October 24 by starting or joining an awareness-
raising action where they live. It is is a chance for us to act as global
citizens, not as isolated individuals and lonely consumers. It is a
chance for world leaders to listen to voices of conscience, not to
those who speak only about financial markets. In South Africa we
showed that if we act on the side of justice, we have the power to
turn tides; tomorrow we have a chance to start turning the tide of
climate change.
Desmond Tutu is the former Anglican archbishop of Cape
Town and the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
Courtesy
The New African Assertiveness
23 October, 2009 | By Desmond Tutu
The intense debate about dealing with climate change has mostly
taken place between powerful players in the rich world. The battles
between coal and oil companies, whose products cause climate
change, and environmentalists have largely been fought in rich
countries. The United States, European Union and China have
driven negotiations on the international stage. Every top-level
conversation has been about what's thought to be possible - and
often what's convenient - for these strong forces.
- But, as the
countdown begins to
the decisive
Copenhagen climate
talks in December,
new voices are
making themselves
heard - the voices of
the first victims of
climate change, more
assertive and
become apparent.
The United Nations lists 28 countries as most vulnerable to climate
change, and 22 of them are in Africa.
In late August the African Union's chief negotiator at the
Copenhagen climate talks, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles
Zenawi, said that Africa would not only demand fair compensation
for climate damage from the countries that caused the problem but
would also demand that rich nations make a maximal effort to cut
emissions and hold global warming to as few degrees as humanly
possible. He has been joined by a chorus from around the continent
calling for a new approach to dealing with climate change, one that
takes poorer regions of the globe into account.
The new African assertiveness stems from new science. Even a few
years ago most developing nations viewed climate change as one
more trouble to which they could, with sufficient aid, adapt. But
after Arctic sea ice melted so dramatically in the summer of 2007,
climate scientists began re-evaluating their predictions - the earth
was reacting more violently than expected to even small temperature
increases.
It became clear that for many countries basic survival was at stake -
the low-lying islands of the Maldives, though poor, have begun
saving a portion of each year's national budget to buy a new
homeland if and when their current home sinks beneath the waves.
Kenya's ongoing drought, with the deaths of thousands of cattle and
devastating crop failures that have accompanied it, is giving us a
vivid picture of what uncontrolled climate change might bring to the
African continent.
Many top scientists have realised there is a number the whole world
needs to know. It is 350, as in 350 parts per million of the heat-
trapping gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A growing
consensus among climate scientists is that it is the most carbon we
can have in the atmosphere without causing climate havoc. Since we
are already past that level, at 390 parts per million, it also implies
that we need much swifter political action than governments have
supported in the past. It means, among other things, a serious and
rapid effort to replace the burning of polluting coal with cleaner
energy sources everywhere.
Normally, voices from places like Ethiopia, the Maldives and Kenya
are sidelined in international forums. But this time it may be different,
because a huge, positive and determined civil society movement is
building around the world to support just, fair and scientific climate
targets.
Tomorrow 350.org, an organisation I support, will co-ordinate
thousands of creative events, gatherings and rallies in almost every
country in the world to bring the number 350 to global attention.
Sharing the goals of 350.org will be internationally prominent
messengers, including the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, and NASA's top climate
scientist, James Hansen.
Groups of people will gather in the world's iconic places - from
Table Mountain in Cape Town to the tops of Himalayan peaks and
even beneath the waves, where teams of Australian divers will be
protesting on the endangered Great Barrier Reef.
Across the planet, churches will ring their bells 350 times that day; in
synagogues, October 24 is the day when the story of Noah is told.
Buddhist monks and Muslim congregations are joining in the same
kind of hopeful actions. Everywhere participants will be worried
about the fate of their own particular places - but they will also be
standing up for the weakest people and places on earth, whose
voices simply must be heard.
People in almost all the nations of the earth are involved - it's the
same kind of coalition that helped make the word "apartheid"
known around the world.
I ask all those around the world who care about Africa to support
climate fairness on October 24 by starting or joining an awareness-
raising action where they live. It is is a chance for us to act as global
citizens, not as isolated individuals and lonely consumers. It is a
chance for world leaders to listen to voices of conscience, not to
those who speak only about financial markets. In South Africa we
showed that if we act on the side of justice, we have the power to
turn tides; tomorrow we have a chance to start turning the tide of
climate change.
Desmond Tutu is the former Anglican archbishop of Cape
Town and the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
Courtesy
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