Poor people will suffer most under climate change, yet they are the least responsible for it. But under a new climate justice, rich nations that have emitted most greenhouse gases, will have to do their share.
Hopefully this will lead to a culture of “perpetrators pay”, a climate justice dialogue heard last week.
The dialogue, held at the University of Pretoria and organised by Kofi Annan’s NGO, the Global Humanitarian Forum, introduced the concept of “climate justice” to an audience of about 250 students, faculty and media.
The panel was made up of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former president of Ireland and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, and Kofi Annan by satellite.
Climate justice means that, instead of just cutting carbon emissions, the culprits most responsible for climate change will be held accountable for their pollution and compensate the “global south”, or what Tutu calls “a nice way of saying poor countries”, which is usually first to feel the effects.
One of the major effects of climate change is that it increases the severity and unpredictability of weather and, according to the Global Humanitarian Forum, of all the climate-related disasters that occurred in the past decade, 98% were in developing countries.
With the 50 least developed countries contributing only 1% of global emissions that contribute to climate change, it is only fair that the developed world, which releases more than three-quarters of global emissions, is made to provide compensation.
The dialogue is part of a campaign building up to the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, planned for December, which is likely to replace the Kyoto Protocol as the standard for climate change funding and targets. The Copenhagen Summit will consider polluters across the world, including emerging economies such as India, China and South Africa, as opposed to only industrialised countries as focused on by the Kyoto Protocol. According to Annan, the compensation received from polluters should be used to help poorer communities with education on climate change and to obtain resources such as protective infrastructure. The future focus for climate change also needs to be on adaptation and sharing and transferring of existing preventative technologies.
Tutu emphasised that compensation should not be a charity, but a requirement, and said he hoped that “we can find a way in which promises and commitments can be enforceable”. He highlighted the public’s role in pressuring government into creating and enforcing policies, and gave the example of money spent on arms.
“In South Africa we are spending so much on a budget for death and destruction when children are dying because they can’t get inexpensive inoculations. We should be outraged,” he said.
When asked how countries could be expected to pay during the current recession, Annan firmly replied that climate change cannot wait. “We have the ability to tackle several problems at once,” he said. “We can’t use the financial crisis as an excuse for climate change.”
Climate justice consists of eight principles, which, being an integrated approach, should be implemented by governments, companies and individuals.
Although the idea is based on utopian fundamentals of justice and equity, it appears to require defined legislation to be actionable and effective.
December will show whether the world’s leaders are dedicated to fighting climate change and willing to pay for their destructive actions, or if the promising ideals of climate justice are lost in noncommittal rhetoric.
The impact on the poor
Poor people in Africa will be the most affected by climate change. What emerged at the recent Climate Justice Dialogue in Pretoria is that it is often difficult for the poor to see how an issue such as climate change, which seems so indirect and removed, can be important.
According to Greenpeace Africa, about 80% of South Africans are aware of climate change but don’t understand how it affects their lives. Another 40% think they should do something about it, whereas 70% of poor South Africans think it is a corporate problem, not a governmental one.
Although many think of it as being an issue for the rich, the poorest are usually the worst affected.
Organisations such as Earthlife Africa try to explain the direct effects of climate change. Through their projects, they help people to understand the link between climate change and the disasters they see happening to and around them, such as the floods in Soweto, cholera and other illnesses.
Peet du Plooy of the World Wide Fund for Nature, another organisation that takes climate change to the people, lists three key messages that will resonate with the poor: combating climate change will mean cheaper electricity in the future, more jobs and a stimulated industry. — Ilham Rawoot
Getting the green vote
South Africa is one of the two biggest climate change culprits in Africa, emitting 45% of the continent’s greenhouse gases, reports Ilham Rawoot.
Julia Fish, an administrative officer for Greenpeace Africa, says that when analysing party manifestos on climate change, the important issues are commitment to investment in renewable and alternative energy, education on climate change and provision of an alternative energy producer to Eskom.
Political party promises
ANC: create “green jobs” (employing people in programmes and industries that would lessen the effects of climate change).
ID: make South Africa a world leader in renewable energy
- End Eskom’s monopoly.
- Provide production incentives for solar energy.
- Increase investment in research.
DA: establish a price for carbon.
- Install solar water heaters.
- Introduce incentives for the uptake of renewable energy.
- Allow competing electricity producers to enter the market.
IFP: there is no mention of climate change but Ruth Rabinowitz is leading the charge to get a proper feed-in tariff system set up.
COPE: develop new, cleaner technologies to reduce emissions when using coal as a power source.
Use alternative power sources such as wind, gas and solar.
UDM: No specific plans are mentioned for climate change.