daniel chigunwe
It’s been 60 years since the first African country freed itself from European colonisers.
While that isn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things, development and growth on the continent are still moving at a painstakingly gradual pace — with the continent remaining trapped in an economy designed by colonisation, while at the same time experiencing the worst that the climate crisis has to give.
Despite Africa having contributed the least to carbon emissions (less than 4 percent of the global total), the continent has been feeling the worst impacts of the climate emergency — and it is now expected to find solutions to problems it didn’t cause, while also receiving far less climate funding from the world’s richest nations than is needed, and has been promised.
At its core however, the climate crisis isn’t a finger pointing issue (even though we all know who’s responsible) — and ultimately, solutions are what counts.
That’s why Power Shift Africa and its collaborators, who form part of a coalition called Don’t Gas Africa that’s working against investment in fossil fuel production on the African continent, have taken the initiative to map out a way forward for the continent’s development and energy transitions, keeping in mind the colonial legacies that have trapped it in a cycle of conflict, energy poverty, and climate shocks.
“Africa has demonstrated that climate change, energy access, poverty, development, and conflict are all tightly connected and are different dimensions of the same phenomenon,” explains Kenyan President William Ruto in his foreword to the report.
“I believe by becoming more assertive and pursuing a climate and development agenda through unified approaches of the kind outlined in this report, Africa will be able to mitigate the climate emergency and propel itself to prosperity,” he continues.
So how do we reach a fully developed and empowered African continent? By starting with the obstacles it’s faced with, and being creative in a strategy to overcome them, of course.
The report — published in May and titled “Just Transition: A Climate, Energy, and Development Vision for Africa” — details the continent’s setbacks, and offers tangible solutions.
It describes how Africa’s deepest issues are intertwined, and highlights that a collaborative Pan-African approach to solving them is what will move the continent forward and away from colonial dependencies.
Let’s take a look at what the report highlights are the main developmental issues facing the continent right now, and how the continent can solve these issues and achieve a more equitable and just future for all its people.
What Are Africa’s Biggest Developmental Setbacks?
Food Insecurity
This isn’t new news. Food insecurity is an issue that has been increasingly plaguing Africa as conflict remains rife in parts of the continent, and the climate crisis has been draining Africa of its water supply while serving up ever-increasing extreme weather disasters.
Despite the continent being rich in natural resources, a combination of conflict — including the war against Ukraine — and climate change have meant high levels of hunger across Africa. According to Oxfam, 278 million Africans are undernourished, and if conflicts continue (this year has already seen conflict in Sudan, Somalia, Cameroon, and the DRC just to name a few), the numbers could worsen.
What’s more is that Africa imports a lot of its essential foods — with an emphasis on high-cost, high-pollutant cash crops. There is less and less investment into the sustainable agricultural practices that could lift Africa out of its food security crisis.
Energy Poverty
Over 600 million Africans are energy poor, meaning they have little or no access to electricity. The power systems that Africa currently relies on are fragile at best — for instance, Botswana recently faced a country-wide blackout because of its unsustainable power supply.
There have been fears that South Africa, with its ongoing load-shedding crisis that has persisted for almost two decades, could face the same fate, and dozens of countries from Nigeria to eSwatini are dealing with electricity woes, or an entire lack of electricity altogether.
Energy poverty makes it difficult to work, live, and learn, and thus delays progress in a country.
Ineffective Industrial Strategies
The way Africa is currently designed to develop is for the benefit of Western economies and not Africa itself — with its emphasis on extractive industries, simple assembly-line manufacturing, and low-value-added exports to foreign countries, as the report states.
Even the policies designed to boost Africa’s industrial economies are of very little benefit to the continent itself, according to the report. — Global Citizen
Bongani Ndlovu