African citizens are those most affected by climate change and least informed of – and responsible for – its causes. How can Africa adapt to climate change and effectively take part in global action?
With the crucial UN summit on climate change only eight weeks away, a policy briefing from the
BBC’s international development charity argues that those most affected by climate change are least aware of its causes.
Talking about climate
Africa Talks Climate, a major research and communications initiative launched in partnership with the British Council, has gathered the experiences and perspectives of over a thousand African citizens from DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Their comments and insights demonstrate that African publics have very little awareness that climatic changes are being caused by the generation of greenhouse gases in the industrialised world and by other factors for which Africa is, as a continent, least responsible.
Just as the language and consequences of climate change eluded so many for so long in the developed world, the terms and awareness of the impact are now failing to reach some of the world’s poorest people. That knowledge gap leaves millions of people ill-prepared for the potentially devastating consequence of climate change.
Closing the information gap?
The research findings urge that what people need is information, information that may help them start to adapt their lives.
As part of this, people need to be provided with advice on issues such as drought resistant crops; how to protect their homes and livelihoods from flooding or other environmental threats; and how to start to prepare for the increased vulnerability and unpredictability climate change will bring.
More fundamentally, a deficit of public understanding in Africa of the external causes of climate change is undermining the capacity of African countries to hold the international response to climate change to proper account.
And the changes are coming fast. Only last week Patrick Maina, a Kenyan colleague who had undertaken the research interviews in Isiolo, northern Kenya, sent an urgent update:
"I would like to let you know that the area where we conducted the groups has now become a killing field. The drought has become so severe that communities are fighting each other of the remaining water and pasture."
His comments make real the prediction of a Red Cross worker in the same area who had contributed to the initial research:
"It will be bad if this country experiences food riots, we have already experienced riots regarding elections and our political grievances remain unresolved. If you add food grievances to that equation we will have major trouble."
Preparing for Copenhagen
So far the flow of information on climate change has been principally from the rest of the world to Africa. An aim of this research undertaken by Africa Talks Climate is to address the information gap at the international level too.
In December 2009, more than 15,000 people will gather in Copenhagen at the 15th UN Framework Convention on Climate Change conference known as the Conference of Parties (COP15). Here, the international community has a window of opportunity to demonstrate to African citizens that it is serious about slowing and ultimately stopping climate change.
James Deane, Head of Policy at the BBC World Service Trust, and author of the Policy Briefing says:
"The degree to which the COP15 negotiations are successful is likely to determine how many people will have their lives wrecked or ended by climate change. African citizens are among those who have most at stake at the negotiations."
Meaningful action on climate change will require unprecedented international cooperation and political will. It is crucial that the information and communication needs of those most affected by climate change should be an essential component of international strategic responses to the issue.
BBC World Service Trust policy briefing
The policy briefing argues that African citizens both need and have the right to information on how human-induced climate change will impact on their lives and how they can adapt. It also argues that African citizens have a major role in educating those principally responsible for climate change about its true impact.
This article is in part extracted from the Policy Briefing ‘Least responsible, most affected, least informed: public understanding of climate change in Africa’ written from the BBC World Service Trust by James Deane, based on research findings from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda. An Executive Summary and 10 country reports from Africa Talks Climate will be published separately and will be available from www.africatalksclimate.com.
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend