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The irony in climate change debate

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Climate Change in Zimbabwe: Facts for Planners and Decision Makers
By Anna Brazier
Published by Konrad –Adenauer-Stiftung (2015)
ISBN 978-0-7974-6744-6

CLIMATE Change has today become a major global problem that has pushed the United Nations (UN) into holding numerous meetings annually as they search for solutions on how to deal with this scourge.
Millions of dollars are being raised to fund researches, convene summits and conferences, but in spite of all these efforts, climate change continues to be the untamed ‘new’ menace of global development and stability.
The sad part is that while developing and least developed countries are invited to such forums, they contribute so little to the causes of climate change yet they are the most affected.
Highly industrialised nations are the major contributors of the current climatic changes due to huge carbon emissions from their industries which are affecting the ozone layer.
The current hurricanes Irma and Maria raging in the Caribbean islands are examples of how global warming is changing the structure of the oceans, leading to their heat causing hurricanes.
Due to such hurricanes, lives have been lost while many people have been evacuated from their homes and their lives destroyed.
The book under review this week, brings to the fore serious issues concerning the subject of climate change.
Written by Zambian born Anna Brazier, the book is titled Climate Change in Zimbabwe: Facts for Planners and Decision Makers.
It is a very educational book, which highlights the causes and effects while proffering solutions to climate change.
The book is directed at policymakers and global leaders to come up with lasting solutions that can contribute to the reduction of the impact of climate change.
Climate Change in Zimbabwe: Facts for Planners and Decision Makers reveals that due to climate change, people are bound to experience social and devastating economic problems.
Brazier points out that due to global warming, the world is faced with harsh weather conditions which are contributing to poverty and economic meltdown in numerous African countries.
“The heating of the atmosphere leads to many other changes, including the melting of ice and snow on mountains and at north and south poles,” writes Brazier.
“Global warming also affects ocean and wind currents, leading to changes in rainfall patterns and increases in extreme weather events, including storms, floods, fires and droughts.”
What Brazier is writing in her book is not something alien to Zimbabwe as some of the effects are already evident in the country.
As a result of climate change, a shit of rainfall patterns in Zimbabwe have seen the country experiencing disasters through the El-Nino and La-Nina phenomena.
With its main focus on Zimbabwe, the book does well in pointing out the politics behind the impact of climate change in Africa.
Events surrounding climate change debates reflect the complex politics of global warming.
Just like the days of slavery and colonialism, Africans remain on the receiving end.
“Everyone on earth will be affected by climate change, but the countries and communities that will experience the most severe impacts are in the developing world,” says Brazier.
“This is due to their location, their economic status and the burdens that they already bear including hunger, poverty and disease.”
Exploitation of Africans continues to be the agenda of the West even in climate change. Developing countries continue to suffer from the excesses and expenses of the West.
“The countries responsible for releasing the largest amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are also the richest and the most industrially developed,” writes Brazier.
The author also exposes the hypocrisy and exploitation of developed nations by so-called developed nations when dealing with climate change issues.
“In global climate change negotiations, rich countries insist that less-developed nations reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but they are not offering to help them continue to develop in a way that contributes less to climate change,” says Brazier.
“The choice for developing countries is either to stop developing or to continue to develop and contribute to climate change, paying fines for the extra emissions under the global climate change treaties.
“Thus, poor countries are expected to pay for a problem that they did not cause.”
The irony in the climate change debate is, when carbon dioxide emissions of developing countries are beginning to rise, global governance institutions and advocacy groups are telling the world that carbon dioxide emissions should be decreasing.
Climate change in Zimbabwe: Facts for Planners and Decision Makers is a book which also points out how climate change is affecting Zimbabwe.
Some of its effects are being felt as extreme cold temperatures are experienced in winter while in summer, heat waves have become a common phenomenon.
According to Brazier, due to climate change, Zimbabwe is likely to face economic hardships that will affect agricultural production, tourism, industry, vulnerable people, human communities, migration and human health.
“The quality of the water for both urban and rural communities has deteriorated due to population pressure, climate fluctuations, cultivation and construction on watercourses and wetlands and pollution from agriculture, industry and mining,” Brazier writes.
However, Brazier offers solutions on how Zimbabwe can prepare for climate change.
She calls for Government and communities to come together in building resilience and adaptive capacity of human communities and ecological systems.
Ways that Brazier points out in building resilience are through encouraging diversity in all forms; be it obtaining water from different sources, growing different crops and having many sources of income.
Through Braizer’s book, one can discern that indeed climate change is the biggest threat to humanity today.
It is a must-read.

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