This Day (Lagos)
Abimbola Akosile
Lagos
The Human Development Report (HDR), 2007/2008 edition, was launched by President Umaru Yar'Adua in Abuja last week. Abimbola Akosile, who was at the Africa regional launch, captures the strident calls for global redress to check an implacable enemy
Solidarity in Division
The urgent message in the Human Development Report (HDR) 2007/2008, which has a theme, 'Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world', was clear.
The whole world, both developed and developing nations, both those who contributed to the present bleak climate picture, and those who complied with global guidelines on climate; must unite to fight a common enemy that is bent on reducing the world to either a global sheet of water or an endless expanse of arid land.
A Dangerous Report
As part of its yearly contribution to global development, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) commissions an independent Human Development Report (HDR) which sets the stage for debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity.
This year's report dealing with the challenges of climate change is was launched globally in Brasilia, Brazil on November 27 and in Abuja on the same day. Traditionally, one country is selected in each continent to host the regional launch of the report on the same day as it is being launched globally. Nigeria was selected to host the African Regional Launch of the Human Development Report 2007/2008. The UNDP HDR 2007/2008 builds on the recently-released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Synthesis Report to set out a pathway for climate change negotiations in Bali, Indonesia, and stresses that a narrow 10-year window of opportunity remains to put it into practice.
But the authors argue, with the right reforms, it is not too late to cut greenhouse gas emissions to sustainable levels without sacrificing economic growth: that rising prosperity and climate security are not conflicting objectives. While countries from Asia and Latin America have been able to mobilise both resources and technologies for low carbon energy options, Africa is yet to reap the promised benefits of the Clean Development Mechanism, the report revealed.
For Africa, the 2007 Human Development Report states that the region is already experiencing the early impacts of climate change in the form of frequent and more severe droughts, floods and rainfall variability. In 2007 alone, more than four states in Nigeria experienced serious floods while some experienced mild drought.
The report further illustrated how climate shocks increase vulnerability and reinforce a vicious cycle of poverty. In drought prone areas, a higher number of children were found to be malnourished and stunted. The report shows that in Niger, children aged two years or less are 72% likely to be stunted if they were born during a drought year.
The report confirms that adaptation is both a necessity and a reality, and recommends that climate change adaptation should be integrated into national development plans and be placed at the center of international partnerships on poverty reduction.
It acknowledges that while rich countries are already adapting to climate change by investing significant financial resources to safeguard themselves, poor countries are being left to their own means.
The Human Development Report continues to frame debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. It is an independent report commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Kevin Watkins is the lead author of the 2007/2008 report, which includes special contributions from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, President Lula da Silva of Brazil and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The report is translated into more than a dozen languages and launched in more than 100 countries annually.
UNDP is the UN's global network to help people meet their development needs and build a better life. It is on the ground in 166 countries, working in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector to help them build their own solutions to global and national development challenges.
Presidential Concern
The same message was highlighted by President Umaru Yar'Adua and top United Nations (UN) officials, in a bid to underscore the urgency of the matter.
As one analyst aptly put it, we do not have a choice in this matter. Either we like it or not, the effects of climate change are here while other more negative fallout are looming.
Both those who played key roles and who played no role in the current scenario are affected. Everyone has to pay for the sins of before, and at the same time do everything to stop the same painful process from occurring in the future.
Yar'Adua, at the Africa Regional Launch in Abuja, said reduction in greenhouse gases should start immediately to avert global climate disaster, while rich countries must cut emissions drastically.
The same view was echoed by Mr. Gilbert Houngbo, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director for Africa, UNDP, at a launch which attracted state governors, top government officials at national and state levels, parliamentarians, the international community, academia, media and civil society organisations.
In his keynote address, Yar'Adua commended the choice of Nigeria as the HDR launch host, which in his view will necessitate the position of Nigeria as the vanguard of climate change in Africa; and that this year's theme 'Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world', is very topical particularly to Africa, in many respects.
He called on world leaders to see climatic change as an urgent matter; which if not addressed will derail Africa's progress towards the MDGs by 2015. According to him, reduction in greenhouse gases should start immediately to avert global climate disaster.
"While the report is advocating a reduction by 30% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 from advanced countries, I think the 30% must be reached before 2015 if they really want Africa to reach the MDGs", he said; while commending the United Nations for providing strong leadership by including climate change on its priority agenda.
Yar'Adua emphatically stated that his administration will not tolerate gas flaring in the Niger Delta beyond 2008, and enjoined his colleagues in other African countries to face the challenge of climate change as a matter of priority by acting 'now'.
UN Intervention
In his speech, Mr. Gilbert Houngbo UNDP Regional Director for Africa gave highlights of the HDR 2007/2008 which brings to the fore the alarming fact that wealthy countries' carbon footprint threatens to stamp out progress in Africa if effective mitigation efforts are not put in place.
The implications for sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 550 million people reside, and other for other developing regions of the world will be a reversal in advances in the areas of health, education and poverty-reduction.
"For Africa, the double mitigation challenge is the need for energy security and energy access by finding ways to attract enough direct investment to meet the growing energy demand and to drive investments towards lower carbon technologies," said Houngbo.
He said there is now very little argument about whether global climate change is having an impact on countries' economic, social and environmental systems; and that it is rather the size of the impacts and their implications which remain uncertain.
"Alongside these uncertainties, the developing world faces far greater challenges than industrialised countries both in terms of impacts and the capacity to respond", he said.
Houngbo called on Nigeria and South Africa to serve as vanguards for the African continent, in particular, to explore opportunities for promoting the transfer of low carbon technologies through CDM; and urged all stakeholders to work together for the establishment of a post Kyoto regime that reflects the needs and development aspirations of the African continent.
In a related development, the UNDP Resident Representative, Dr. Alberic Kacou, said the Global Human Development Report has progressively monitored human progress for about seventeen years across all regions of the world, first as an analytical tool shaping the global debates and discussions on sustainable human development.
To him, the report clearly points out that countries that emit the largest volume of greenhouse gases are paying marginal prices for doing so while developing countries that contribute the least are most vulnerable to the impact of global warming and have the least capacity to cope and adapt to mitigating technologies.
The implications of climate change take many forms but for Africa it has serious negative impact on agricultural productivity, access to water, human displacement and public health, Kacou said.
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