Global warming and responsible consumption

Global warming and responsible consumption

The Paris agreement (https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement) aimed at reducing the global greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the rate of global climate change has had its lowest moments with some countries showing a lack of support. Despite the urgency to save many starving farmers, destitute families from droughts and floods, some of those most responsible for the catastrophic consequences facing many poor and developing countries can be traced to profiteering by other companies in other countries unaffected by the magnitude of the changing climate. Drought kills more than all other causes including floods, earthquakes, and armed conflict on face value while the impacts of lost livelihoods, malnutrition, and lost cognitive capacity by child malnutrition. Some of these companies as indicated by the guardian continue to rake in profits despite the destitution caused by global warming remaining unaddressed. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/nov/20/90-companies-man-made-global-warming-emissions-climate-change. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/interactive/2013/nov/20/which-fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-climate-change-interactive. While energy from coal and oil have been attributed to be the heaviest causes of these catastrophic impacts, Sub Saharan Africa remains the most affected location from the impacts of climate change-related to food insecurity, malnutrition, and poverty.  https://www.globalhungerindex.org/results.html. While floods have also been seen to be increasing to inflict increasing losses of life and property recently, the investment needed to harvest the water and use it for later dry periods is still not being prioritized.

The new global axis.

The recent electronic development of many products that make life easier in the West has most of their sources in poor countries where the fair price value is normally not considered while the development of the nascent industries in Africa to industrialize and take advantage of these raw materials has lacked policy and managerial leadership. The extent of the abundance of these materials can be seen with a glimpse from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_semiconductor_materials).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan. The growth of this new economy has been on the prospects of reducing the reliance on the polluting energy sources of coal and oil, which has accelerated the extraction of these raw materials from the global south and sometimes without fair value for the economic component of these materials. The new regimes on the negotiating table about the value of these raw materials are still on point of discussion. https://africa-eu-partnership.org/en/stay-informed/news/raw-materials-diplomacy. The new geopolitics as well as being fueled by the rush to make the best deal for each of the beneficiary companies headquartered in either Europe America or now China. https://africamap2018.blogspot.com/2018/03/africa-resource-map.html

Alternative Developments

Solar energy.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Africa

Being centrally dissected by the equator makes Africa unique in the amount of sunshine available for harvest for the harnessing of solar power.  However, institutions of higher learning have not embraced the unique African position to focus on its ability to develop photovoltaic cells for capturing and strong solar energy despite being endowed with both the raw materials and the 12 months of uninterrupted sunshine. Geothermal and hydroelectric power potential sources are abundant for powering the growth of industrial centers. Nevertheless, the political class has neither the direction, policy nor priority to develop the intellectual capacity to power these sectors which could transform the African economies. The portability and miniaturization of solar power sources so as to serve even in the remote locations where development of power grids could be expensive with absent or low return on investment can easily be overcome with establishing low-cost solar panels with the associated accessories.

Wind energy.  

The breadth of Africa has been mapped to indicate the vastness of the wind power potential which is another readily available scalable technology that has been ignored on its ability to transform lives. The development of these resources could greatly enhance the competitiveness of the energy sector to power irrigation systems even in the remote areas at low investment cost and guaranteed return on investment. https://www.get-invest.eu/market-information/kenya/renewable-energy-potential/ https://gwec.net/wind-industry-statement-on-economic-recovery-from-covid-19/. most of the areas with a need for power can be served with this easy to launch and maintain power source were their goodwill from both local, national, and international governments. Establishing regional training centers of excellence for the development of this technology could help increase the competitiveness of the institutions of learning which have been lagging behind making mostly mechanics from engineering courses instead of developing their potential to support the industry.

 Water access.

Sub-Saharan Africa has multifaceted problems related to water with abundance being seen around the equatorial region like the Congo basin to the extreme scarcity in the Sahara and Kalahari deserts with equally several water-stressed regions leading to cyclic annual water challenges. The current debate pitting Ethiopia and Egypt about the rights to use, develop and sustainably share water resources have seen these two countries escalate to the global scale the challenges of the downstream and upstream countries in relation to water sharing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tEtKqWRlt0.  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Trump+on+Ethiopia+dam.

The water scarcity challenge is as well replicated in West Africa where there are few water basins with several upstream and downstream countries and this challenges the role of the African union in creating harmonious inter-country relationships despite the lofty Africa 2063 expected to make the continent join in a singular economic block. Water sharing agreements need to be developed and equitable sharing be implemented to avert future challenges that will be exacerbated by the impacts of climate change that have predicted more frequent droughts and water scarcity despite the rapid population growth.

African solutions to sustainable water equity in the future lie in the development of new technologies to harvest water which sometimes is inadequate due to declining rains to scaling up desalination of seawater since many countries are surrounded by oceans. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/desalination?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination. The development of such scaled-up approaches even by Egypt using the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea could help achieve sustainability as well as deescalating tensions between downstream and upstream countries. The predicted increase in dry periods, therefore, demands that new efficient technologies for using the scarce available water be utilized such as efficient irrigation systems, water recycling and possibly developing systems to convert the ocean saline water to a suitable form for human utilization. These Agricultural intensification innovations will greatly help to solve the urgent need to sustain Food security and ensure practices that work for the benefit of the humankind.