Africans reap climate change effects sown by others.

African witnesses will testify to the impact of climate change at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen this year (link). Although the continent has contributed only negligibly in the whole scheme of global emissions (some estimate a mere three percent–and I’ll take that with a grain of salt after five weeks wading through the black fog that is Kinshasa, D.R. Congo), Africa is expected to be especially pounded by the actual effects of said emissions. Pre-Summit hearings taking place now in 17 countries shed light on the reality of the climate change effects which we often sequester to the distant nebulous future. Stories of real crises facing real people are expected to bring the discussion to an alarming, tangible present. As Mary Robinson, honorary president of Oxfam has said, “The testimony of women and men who are already struggling to cope with a changing climate is a powerful reminder of what is at stake in the international climate negotiations.”

One example of this struggle is currently playing out in Kenya where the onset of drought is already threatening the most valuable commodity of herders who depend on livestock for survival.

While some see the oncoming drought as a normal part of historic, regional climate patterns exacerbated by environmental degradation and socially rooted factors, others, such as Kenyan 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai point to long term climate change as the key culprit. Undoubtedly this debate will continue and ultimately determine the outcome of negotiations for developing solutions.

One such solution? Oxfam is calling for $150 billion a year from industrialized nations whose emissions are heating up the Kenyan countryside where cows and goats are biting the dust in droves, rendering a group of people without a viable source of income. But regardless of the actual outcome of the upcoming Summit, Climate Change is undoubtedly exchanging its ivory tower tone which has until now allowed us to leave the issue at arms length, for a human voice that hits much closer to home.

Photo: WorldVisionReport.org