So why does Africa, which is predicted to bear the brunt of the effects of Climate Change, not invigorate its voice against those who are responsible for current levels of Global Warming and in educating its people about this universally recognized problem in order to mitigate our own behavior and limit our environmental footprint. 

According to BBC World Service Trust, Africa will be among the regions worst affected by climate change even though the continent is not a significant emitter of greenhouse gases. It has been estimated that African fossil fuel emissions account for a bare 3.7% of the global total, but the effects of Climate Change are already being felt in many African countries where severe whether patterns are producing terrible consequences on African quotidian lives. 

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Africa is likely to face challenges emanating from extreme climate events such as floods, strong winds, droughts, and tidal waves. The BBC World Service Trust’s Africa Talks Climate Report has already highlighted unprecedented increases in deforestation, drought, urban migration, and flooding in many African countries.  But like many serious issues affecting African lives, our leaders are taking the snail pace.

While African ignorance about Climate Change is not too distant from citizens of other continents, our situation is rather precarious.  Western countries have several institutions and organizations devoted to creating new policies and sensitizing citizens in order to influence personal behaviors, but most African leaders do not even understand the gravity of scientific evidence on the human effects of global warming. 

With limited education and inadequate authority, most Africans are doing what they always do in the face of mystery: turn to god. According to the Africa Talks Climate Report, many Africans blame god for Climate Change.  While the underlying belief that man has done wrong to the earth, which is being punished by the gods is appealing to those who believe, prayer is not the answer. 

Though most of Africa is not yet engaged in high scale industry that can produce the levels of greenhouse gases emanating from China and the West, we are certainly advancing towards our high scale industrial stages and we must be conversant of mitigating strategies and technologies. 

Research has shown that most of the climatic changes we are currently experiencing in Africa are due to the sins of the West, we are certainly not doing much to avoid their mistakes.  The continent is at risk of severe deforestation, pollution, and depletion of biodiversity.  According to the World Future Council, 80% of Africans rely on biomass (wood or charcoal) for energy and 4 million hectares of forest (twice the world average) are felled each year in Africa.  These are areas we could regulate ourselves by replacing biomass with solar energy, for instance.

Waste management is another area where almost all African countries could make improvements.  This should not only concentrate on large industrial wastes such as oil spillage by Shell in Nigeria or the dumping of toxic waste on Ivory Coast by Trafigura; it must also include the large stocks of household wastes producing not only pungent smells around many African cities, but also facilitating diseases such as malaria, cholera and diarrhea. 

Moreover, Africa must coordinate to plan effective use of the future ‘Green Climate Fund’ for adaptation and mitigation in order to participate in reducing global emissions by 50% come 2050.  But we must improve current levels of understanding on the continent by encouraging academic research, media sensitization, and collaboration with local communities who are mostly affected by the sins we commit against the environment.  The ‘Green Climate Fund’ must not be allowed to fall into previous nets of corrupt self-enrichment by a few individuals; it must be used to address recognized challenges of Climate Change on the continent.

What wrongs have been committed against the earth can only be forgiven by repentance and a commitment never to sin again.  If we do not take necessary steps to prevent environmental degradation and global warming, the gods cannot be blamed for our doom. African must learn from the mistakes of the West and profit from innovative technologies that can produce an environmentally conscious growth and development.  


Joseph Kaifala is from Sierra Leone. He is director of the Jeneba Project and attends Vermont Law School, a top-ranking environmental law school in America.