CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES (THE NEXUS)

CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES (THE NEXUS)

          I remember the old tales about our economy flourishing. With 1 kobo, our parents can get many items. Those were the days when agriculture was the backbone of the economy; both educated and uneducated, everyone could predict the weather conditions and would be nearly right. Then came the era of fossil fuel-root cause of climate change. Then it started affecting the productivity of crops negatively, trolls of death fishes on the surface of the rivers in oil drilling states, deformity arising from the poor air they breathe and increase in hunger.  

Climate change started right from the first day we started “fossil fueling” our economy but was ignored for profit and now we are faced with humanitarian crises. Today, we now have Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps across. From flooding, to heat wave then farmer-herdsmen crises and all of sorts driven by climate change.

On Africa continent, we have been hit by two terrible cyclones (Idia and Kenneth) in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Comoros and Zambia, same occurrence in India (cyclone fani). This has claimed the lives of millions of people and destruction of assets that worth millions.

Humanitarian crises have seemingly remained uncontrolled because leaders want to tackle climate change from the top of the problems to the bottom. The truth is that, you don’t address climate change from the multiplier effects, you fight it from the source and this way can made headway.

          The heat wave that was recorded by most countries was above human temperature as a result, death trolls was recorded and it is simultaneously affecting crop yields. Also resulting in a lot of diseases outbreak, thereby increasing the mortality rates. When humanitarian crises arise, our species are not left out.

We have to come to the reality of science from our carbon sins to safe the billions of lives that depend on soil, water and air we breathe. Climate change is a race we can’t afford to lose over life-threatening profit; it is a race we must win, it is not optional if we must work in line with the Paris Agreement backed up by Inter-governmental Panel on climate Change (IPCC) to limit warming to 1.5^oC, global net CO² emissions must drop by 45% between 2010 and 2030, and reach net zero around 2050.

It’s no longer a news that national emergency on flooding being declared, sadly no actions to back it up to avoid the same occurrence. The intensity of climate change havoc increases as years pass by. Another scary thing is that, our economy is being affected in returns; we are using the same money earn from fossil fuel to solve humanitarian crises rather than to grow the economy as it is done in a green economy. It is of no doubt that we now have less 11years to act against all odds in switching to a cleaner energy source. In as much as the earth supports life, we also need to give the earth the support it needs to support our living on it. These crises is not a one man solution approach, our earth is already in a state of emergency and its need every one to join climate justice.

By Oladosu Adenike(@the_ecofeminist)-twitter