Mitigation, mitigation, mitigation — the need for action to halt climate change will be hammered home at eight Live Earth concerts on seven continents on Saturday.
In Johannesburg, that message has dictated the choice of materials in what is being billed as a carbon-neutral concert, right down to the biodegradable drumsticks and guitar picks.
But to focus exclusively on preventing future pollution is to overlook an aspect of climate change that is deemed more critical in Africa, according to experts.
”The fact that there is nothing on adaptation [in this concert] is quite offensive,” said Richard Worthington, of the South African Climate Action Network (Sacan) and Earthlife Africa.
Africa is widely seen as a victim of the greenhouse gasses that have benefited other countries.
Despite contributing under 5% of the global amount of the six key greenhouses gases, Africa is one of the continents most vulnerable to climate change, a recent United Nations report on climate change found.
Between 75 and 250-million people in Africa are expected to face even greater water shortages by 2020 as a result of climate change, the report said.
”It’s not enough to stop pollution now,” Worthington told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
”You’ve got to pay for the damage that has already been caused.”
”The north has to provide resources for countries in the south, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, to adapt [to the effects of climate change].”
Although Sacan and Earthlife Africa were broadly supportive of the Live Earth concerts, the ”very Americanised” central message, by focusing exclusively on mitigation, represented a ”lost opportunity” for Africa, said Worthington.
The seven-point pledge which participants in the concerts will be asked to sign include demands for local politicians to sign an international treaty agreeing to more than halve global-warming pollutants by 2050 worldwide.
It also calls for a moratorium on new coal-burning plants that do not have carbon sequestration technology.
South Africa, which by contrast with its African neighbours is one of the top ten emitters of per-capita greenhouse gases worldwide, faces embarrassment if thousands of Live Earth participants in Johannesburg sign the pledge.
State electricity provider Eskom has plans to reactivate three coal-fired power plants and build two new ones in the coming years.
Between 10 000 and 12 000 people are expected to attend the Live Earth concert at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg from 5pm GMT. Nine acts have been scheduled, including British pop star Joss Stone and Beninese-born singer Angelique Kidjo. ‒ Sapa-DPA