When I read “climate change”…I don’t see polar ice caps melting and deserts growing, I see the economics of it.
To do climate change, is in essence to reduce or cap carbon emissions and boost renewables such as solar and wind. These are good objectives, so why has a comprehensive climate change plan not been reached?
Simple, it’s the economics
Let’s look at reducing or capping emissions, what emits? Factories and cars, so to cap or reduce emissions is to cap or reduce growth in factories and stop families driving cars, in essence you’re capping jobs and asking families not to drive. The reality is this, the West was built by burning “dirty” fuel i.e. coal, crude oil to generate power. Then the West moved to nuclear and cleaner sources of power, but this was after the West has achieved inclusive economic wellbeing for their citizens. Owning a car in America was a rite of passage…
The world’s two largest economies outside the West are China and India. In all measures, the citizens in these nations are poor. How do you make poor people rich? You create opportunities…how do you create opportunities? You build economies that create jobs, where do you find jobs? In factories, what do those factories burn? Diesel, petrol or coal…In other words, for India to move her citizens from poverty to prosperity, she has to generate enough power supply to factories and business in India who hire Indian workers, and pay them a wage. It’s really that simple. So climate change summits always fail because the West wants a cap on carbon emission and the developing nations don’t, well until they are “developed”
It’s important we understand this cold hard reality. Climate change is good, I want a great climate for my kids, but my kids have to eat first.We must not in the name of “climate change” sign away our rights to build a coal fired power plants in Kogi and Enugu….No.
So what should we do? We keep polluting and flaring gas?
We have to have a strategy, but it’s a simple strategy, let them pay. If we have coal deposits, then let the West pay us not to build a coal Power Plant using that coal. They can pay us by building a solar power plan for us, or even writing off our debts.
There is a precedence to this, the West pay the armed Forces in Africa to fight terrorist, and they pay Police to stop people smugglers. pays Niger Republic by supplying them power for free so that they don’t build their dam on the River Niger to reduce water supply to Kainji Dam (Niger is now build a dam). China is leading Africa strategy on this with the Chinese President flying to Southern Africa from the COP 21 in Paris to discuss the developing world’s response with African leaders. Nigeria must go to this meeting with a strong delegation and a clear voice.
Nigeria should push that our gas flaring be reduced by a massive investment to build LNG plants in the Niger Delta.
Nigeria should also tie the Climate Change narrative to terrorism by making the strong case that Boko Haram is feeding off the lack of jobs and opportunities cause in part by the drying of the Lake Chad. This has reduced agric and trade and pushed many young boys to Boko Haram. Lake Chad has shrunk by 95% between 1963 to 1998, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization has called it an “Ecological Catastrophe”. The Lake Chad provides water to almost 20m people, including frames, fishermen, and herders.
The solution to a drying Lake Chad is already there, a pipeline to take water from the Congo to Lake Chad, its bloody expensive, about $14.5b but Boko Haram is expensive.
We must tie this climate thing to economics
(Photo Credit: Suzuki Foundation)
