By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- The delegates from Africa at COP27 noted: The rich industrial nations were the key players contributing to the global warming. The impact of this would be informed by disastrous occurrences ranging from drought, desertification, heat wave, wild fires, floods and rising sea waters.
- The industrialized countries of Europe and Asia would not be spared. In numerous occasions, they grappled with the frequency disasters like hurricanes and typhoons leading to deaths of many of their citizens and ruin of their economies in a big way.
- Given this scenario, this would be my position. A time has come for superpowers to swallow their pride and treat the inputs of Africa countries with the seriousness they deserve. Phasing out fossil fuels had been flagged out as a key intervention measures.
A few days ago I was hosted by Kamau Githinji of Weega television and our conversation focused on matters related to climate change and global warming. This came at time when the world leaders were attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference of parties [COP27} in Egypt.
Having listened to the powerful speech that had been made by President William Ruto, I took this opportunity to congratulate him. He had indeed put the interest of Kenyans above everything else. Kenya and other countries in the continent of Africa, he noted, bore the greatest brunt.
Dr Ruto also signed two major bilateral agreements that helped Kenya to take a significant step in shifting to clean green energy. The government of Britain agreed to support Kenya with Sh500 billion to set up solar and geothermal power plants, a commitment made by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In the second agreement, an Australian company agreed to establish a fertilizer factory in our soil. If constructed, it would be the first since Kenya attained its independence. In 70s, the plan to build the factory that would have been named KenRen failed to take off. Then, former President Mwai Kibaki was the minster for Economic Planning.
The delegates from Africa at COP27 noted:Â The rich industrial nations were the key players contributing to the global warming. The impact of this would be informed by disastrous occurrences ranging from drought, desertification, heat wave, wild fires, floods and rising sea waters.
The industrialized countries of Europe and Asia would not be spared. In numerous occasions, they grappled with the frequency disasters like hurricanes and typhoons leading to deaths of many of their citizens and ruin of their economies in a big way.
Given this scenario, this would be my position. A time has come for superpowers to swallow their pride and treat the inputs of Africa countries with the seriousness they deserve. Phasing out fossil fuels had been flagged out as a key intervention measures.
Coal, oil and natural gas are products extracted from fossil fuels and produced carbon dioxide, a major source of greenhouse emissions when burned.
This would be at the core of human activities that contribute to the adverse climate change and global warming.
Majorly, African countries bear a big brunt. Once these products are made by multinational companies based in Europe, only a small portion will be used there. The rest will be sold in Africa and other part of the world inhabited by poor people.
This calls for Africa to wake up and pursue the interests of their people in a decisive manner. If, for instance, Europe has shifted to electrical cars, the same should happen in Africa.
For starters, the safe green energy is always around with us and it is replenished. The sources of this power are: sunlight [solar], hydroelectric, geothermal, wind power [turbines], bio energy and sea energy [strong tidal waves].
Media reports indicated that China and India failed to send delegates to COP27 in Egypt. This was unfortunate bearing in mind the two countries led in global air pollution and poisoning the climate.
I think this is the reason that prompted President Ruto to observe. We are still having a long way to go before realizing our goals. So, the humankind will have to grapple with this problem a bit longer.
As I conclude, allow me to say this. Fossil fuels are made from the decomposing plants and animals that had died hundreds of thousands of years. This explains why the fossils discharged a lot of carbon dioxide that experts believe 90 percent of it needed to be phased out. Again, the fossil fuels were non-renewable.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political commentator based in Nairobi
