Deputy Science Editor Phoebe Lu learns about African perspectives on climate change policies and offers her two cents on what it means to go to webinars and lectures at Columbia.

I spent the day stressing about whether to or commit myself to the purgatory that is the dining hall lines. Now, I am spending my night listening to perhaps the biggest challenge that the world faces right now—climate change. The webinar, hosted by the Global Center for Energy Policy, described countries across the globe that congregated and debated in Doha, in Cancun, in Copenhagen. The guest speakers, Kamissa Camara, Director for External Affairs and Africa Policy at The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and Pa Ousman Jarju, the former Minister of Environment in the Gambia, are extremely accomplished and influential figures in climate policy. The difference in magnitude between my daily concerns and the issues of concern in this webinar is really quite large.  

This webinar emphasized African perspectives on climate change, as climate change and African development occur hand in hand. Camara summarized the challenges Africa faces in terms of climate change and development as follows: first, the global response to climate emergency puts Africa’s development at risk; second, climate change itself derails African economies, with African countries being disproportionately impacted by climate change; and third, there needs to be an effective and efficient partnership between high-income countries and African governments as in the past, these high-income countries have often left the developing nations of Africa out of the conversation. 

From her research at the Tony Blair Institute, Camara made three recommendations to address the complex balance between development and sustainability. She suggested that high-income countries must bear the greatest responsibilities for reducing their emissions and financing measures to adapt to climate change, while collaborating with African governments. In Africa, the development benefits of coastal fuel reserves must be taken into consideration while also balancing carbon neutrality goals. Finally, Camara emphasized that countries must rally together to meet financial goals to address climate change in Africa while also remaining wary that it will not reduce development financing. 

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), in which speaker Pa Ousman Jarju serves as the Director of Programming, exhibits a potential solution that can bring Camara’s goals of development and sustainability to fruition. The GCF, established by 194 countries, targets developing countries like those in Africa. Their agenda is split into adaptation, helping communities in developing countries make the most out of everyday life alongside consequences of climate change, and mitigation of the effects of climate change. Currently, the GCF holds $8.8 million and has carried out 177 projects. Jarja stated that many African countries are given special attention within the work of the fund, with 50% of the adaptation budget dedicated to countries within Africa. In a project in Rwanda, $49.6 million is allocated to areas that rely on agriculture but are now crippled by climate change-induced drought. The GCF is working to restore the landscape and forestry so that it can once again be prepared for agricultural work. Echoing Camara’s suggestions, the project simultaneously emphasizes economic development for the region, engaging financial commitments from local microfinance institutions and investors for the new market once the landscape has been restored. 

With the ending of the webinar, the question I was left with was, “What now?” What do I do with this information surrounding policies about the world’s greatest challenge in the world’s second-largest continent, besides transcribing it for Bwog? 

If I could answer that question, I would be the one writing PrezBo’s emails. Instead, I’ll offer some analysis that truly reads like a journal entry, chock-full of burnt-out sophomore on-the-brink-of-selling-out energy: attending the event reminded me of how it is okay to just learn something for the sake of learning; I’ll never bring up the information I’ve learned in any classwork, as it would be rather inappropriate to turn in this article to Jae Woo Lee; I’m certainly not in a position to make policy decisions similar to the magnitude of those mentioned in the webinar; and honestly, I understood about half of what was said in the webinar and had to rewind multiple times. Overall, I’m certainly not equipped to take what I’ve learned and rebuke it or support it. 

My general conception of knowledge has been that it always has to serve a greater, academic purpose; knowledge learned in class should go towards achieving an A, or knowledge about the world should be shaped into making some sort of argument. While watching a webinar that I’m trying very hard to understand, I thought about how it has been a while since I picked up facts without any imminent agenda: how just receiving information without knowing where to store it may be a worthwhile activity. The consistent and eloquent way in which Camara and Jarja etched out the narrative of African climate goals, from its challenges to its paths forward, felt like a capsule into another spacetime, offering a glimpse into the magnitude of events unfolding in parallel to Columbia’s (at times) all-consuming bubble. To put it crudely: in the age of desperately trying to sound intelligent in class discussions or selling yourself on club applications, it’s an experience to go to a webinar, shut the fuck up, and just listen.

climate change via Bwog Archives