by Tinashe Madava
As the Kyoto United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference on emissions reductions was being concluded in Japan two years ago, developing countries were left off the hook while the Kyoto Protocol focused on the more industrialised nations who emit a larger percentage of pollutants into the air.
The Kyoto talks left the matter of emissions limitation by developing countries to future negotiations.
But southern Africa need not take a relaxed approach. Another issue is the role of developing countries in controlling emissions in the immediate future since they have a commitment to address climate change as a result of the release of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air.
Two years down the line, the emissions debate seems to have lost any momentum it had gained in the run-up to Kyoto. The willingness to cut down polluting gases into the air seems to have been lost.
Yet, as long ago as 1898, a Swedish scientist, Svante Ahrrenius warned that carbon dioxide emissions could lead to global warming. But, it was not until the 1970s that a growing understanding of the earth atmosphere system brought this previously obscure scientific concern to wider attention.
At the fourth Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP-4) held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last year, the call for technology transfer to help developing nations adapt cleaner production processes especially energy, was a bone of contention. Oil producers such as Saudi Arabia vigorously opposed this because the plan encouraged industries to shift from oil to cleaner power sources. Petroleum-based industries are some of the worst polluters of air.
Most southern African countries see technology transfer as a way to facilitate the concept of Cleaner Development Mechanism (CDM). Delegates at the Buenos Aires meeting adopted a plan of action which established deadlines for finalising the outstanding details of the Kyoto Protocol so that the agreement could come into force after the year 2000.
However, the issue of voluntary commitments for developing countries was not on the agenda of COP- 4 although informal discussions took place. This might be an indication that some countries are not willing to face up to the likely economic consequences of reducing ozone depletion. Punishment of “small time” polluters in these countries will continue while the “big guns” get away with it. Likewise, the developed countries check the developing countries’ technological advancement.
“Air pollution and human health impacts are lower in rural areas because of the more widely dispersed sources of emissions and population … but people inside poorly ventilated homes may breathe pollutants in excess of accepted standards from coal, wood and paraffin,” says Grant Milne, a private environmental consultant based in Zimbabwe. More than half of the population in southern Africa lives in the rural areas.
According to Milne, air is considered polluted if it contains substances, which might have an adverse impact on the environment and human health.
Polluted air causes a number of serious health issues ranging from a slight discomfort, to major respiratory problems. Health impacts are worse in high-risk groups such as children up to the age of 14, people with asthma or cystic fibrosis, pregnant women and unborn babies, and the aged.
“The problem [of air pollution] is very serious in many cities in the Eastern European countries but smaller cities in developing countries, such as Harare, are experiencing growing air pollution in response to heavy rural-urban migration, increasing numbers of motor vehicles, and poorly regulated industrial emissions.
So, as the world approached the Japan conference, Michael Zammit Cutajar, the convention’s executive secretary, warned that “Kyoto will succeed if the industrialised countries take a bold lead and honestly confront the conflict between the short-term, defensive concerns of certain economic sectors and the broader economic and environmental interests of society at large.”
While SADC countries are participating in efforts to reduce global warming, a Norwich (UK) Climate Change Research Unit working in the southern Africa observed that carbon emissions from the region remain very low. And the contribution of SADC to total global warming is less than four percent for all greenhouse gases, but that is not to say there is no room for further pollution.
As the earth’s ozone layer continues to shrink, the incidence of skin cancers, especially deadly melanoma, has increased significantly. Exposure to ultraviolet radiation also causes cataracts, which lead to blindness. Scientists admit that they have no idea how many other crippling ailments might be triggered by global warming resulting from ozone damage.
“Climate change puts more stress on systems that are already stressed by increasing resource demands, non-sustainable management practices and pollution. We need to place climate change in the context of all the pressures on all resources use and development decisions,” said Robert Watson, Director of the World Bank’s Environment Department and head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (lPCC).
Through the Global Carbon Initiative (Gel), the World Bank is exploring ways to use market mechanisms and payments to reduce emissions and support sustainable growth in developing countries.
A Carbon Investment Fund (CIF) is one of the projects being explored under the Gel. The CIF would obtain money from industrialised countries and private companies and invest it in emissions reductions in economies in ‘transition and in developing countries. So, if all goes as planned, ozone-depleting chemicals will be eliminated no later than 2040, with the most harmful ones phased out by 2010.
SADC countries can enter into a scheme called the “Joint Implementation Strategy”. The ns involves a transfer of new technology or the construction of low-pollution power plants to the advantage of the recipient nation. The notional carbon dioxide saved can then be transferred to the investing country as a credit thus giving that country the right to pollute above its own prescribed target.
SADC countries can be included in the Joint Implementation Strategy if they voluntarily agree to sign up to emission limitations of their own. The lure of technology transfer and hard currency, in exchange for doing very little may be sufficient incentive. (SARDC)
