Climate Change, Global Pandemic and the Imperative of Strengthening Pan-African Solidarity

Rising average global temperature has been linked to increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere caused mainly by human activities, largely from burning of fossil fuel. At about 1.1 degrees increase in average global temperature (starting from the time of the industrial revolution), the world is witnessing increased frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events like flooding, droughts and wildfires. The high frequency of heavily violent cyclones and other climate-related disasters in Africa — which has initially had its economy devastated over the past centuries — and the inability of many households to afford the demands of changing climatic conditions attest to the disproportionate impact of climate change on our continent. And worse, the new estimates published in the very recent Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shows “the chances of crossing the global warming level of 1.5 degrees in the next decades.”

Climate change is not unconnected to the increasing range and spread of diseases, as the increasing temperature and other associated environmental conditions — most prominent being biodiversity loss — favor the breeding of new pathogens. There are emerging suggestions that the emergence of recent pandemics may not be unconnected to the alteration in the make-up of animal species and humans particularly, which climate change is causing.

Africans are today victims of what has been described as ‘climate apartheid,’ in which African nations which are the least contributors to the climate crisis suffer greater consequences — mainly as a result of a limited capacity to respond to it. Adaptation to climate change and attending to the needs created by the pandemic are difficult for too many African nations and communities which have already been impoverished by centuries of exploitation and domination.

As countries of Africa, and as a global community, we face today enemies that do not recognize nor respect the artificial and — at the best — superficial partitions which we have drawn up for ourselves, or, most appropriately, which have been drawn up for us — and this is particularly the case for us as peoples of Africa whose continent was partitioned at a gathering where no African was present, and as peoples who have been forcibly displaced and confined to places which in many cases were not our choices.

As these crises continue to hit hard, many change seekers have succumbed to the emotional tendency to pull up the drawbridge, an impulsive embrace of a narrower notion of identity. And this is expressed in the secessionist and separatist agitations in many African countries. Reason impels us to learn from history, to see that separation and disintegration — in the face of crises — only limit our ability to take on these crises and only make them fester.

While UNESCO’s 2017 Declaration of Ethical Principles in Relation to Climate Change lists solidarity as one of the six ethical principles that should guide responses to climate change, the Kilimanjaro Declaration of 2016, the founding charter of the Africans Rising movement, stressed the imperative of ‘building an Africa-wide solidarity and unity of purpose of the peoples of Africa to build the future we want.’ Many voices of reason have consistently worded the message which nature has hitherto been sending to us with signs, that ‘we better bind together, and because none of us is safe until all of us are safe.’

The need to increase cooperation and strengthen solidarity amongst ourselves as peoples of Africa is not only a matter of environmental exigency, but an existential imperative; for the convergence of crises which we witness today puts our survival on the line — and impels us to band together to be able to resolve them. The level of investment which is needed to cause a shift from brown nonrenewable energy sources to green renewable energy sources, (say the development of a ‘Super Solar Project in the Sahara’), as one instance of actions needed to combat the challenges we face today, can best be afforded by African nation through joint investment. Only through strengthened solidarity can we ensure that power hoarders are unable to avoid sharing information and being accountable, especially now that sharing the science and tech that could speed up affordable mass production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is much needed.

One common message from both crises is the need for us to give greater attention to science. This was particularly made clear by the saddening fact that higher deaths have been recorded in countries where policy makers have shown reluctance in paying attention to science. That huge investment in scientific research and collaboration among scientists — beyond the superficial and artificial partitions — are pivotal to overcoming these crises is no longer a question. The question now is about whether we would be able to find the courage to forge the solidarity needed to be able to meet the investment requirements and collaboration so necessitated. Finding this courage is particularly important for Africa, as our economies are already devastated and resources consequently limited.

Considering the trans-border nature of the shared environmental, political, economic and cultural challenges that we face today, fragmenting our efforts in taking them up would greatly limit our odds of overcoming them. We must continue to strive to strengthen solidarity amongst ourselves as peoples of Africa, for the safeguarding of our health, the security of our rights, and the guaranteeing of a more just future, for us and for the coming generations.