Against the backdrop of climate change threat to food crops- including coffee, Tundun Aihie argues that sustainable climate change polities and necessary state policies are crucial for our survival.
It is without a doubt that countries are experiencing the impact of climate change. Extreme weather conditions such as floods, droughts and heatwaves are at an unprecedented scale. This invariably will contribute to damages of existing infrastructure, food shortages and degradation of natural resources on which most livelihood are dependent.
According to World Wide Fund – UK (WWW-UK), coffee production is on a rapid decline due to climate change. Well, if you are a die-hard coffee head like me, you should be very concerned about climate change as the effects on coffee production are being well-documented and coffee harvesters are seeing reduced harvest. That really should be your cup of tea. Oh by the way, so is wine production.
You may have-in the past or at present-tried to take some action to protect your environment in the face of climate change impact. Still, individual actions are just not enough to address the massive challenge of climate change. The government plays a critical role in the fight against climate change. But many governments are holding back from prioritising and implementing sustainable policies geared towards tackling this environmental challenge. The shortfall in prioritising and implementing sustainable policies has been attributed to the short-term political cycles of some government. Change in budgetary allocation/plan, policies and regulation due to change in political power can derail actions previously initiated with implications on long term plans. Economic pressures and other competing priorities for funding are other reasons offering setbacks to actions on climate change in the corridors of power.
The environmental degradation that would be experienced by the effect of climate change would lead to such economic hardship. In fact, it has been estimated that millions of people would be pushed into poverty in the wake of this environment havoc. Thus, economic growth should not be bolstered at the expense of actions on climate change by the government.
With global temperature rising in the last decade and speeding up in the last few years, ambitious policies must be implemented and actions taken by government with an all-inclusive long-term commitment.
An intervention policy and priority that the government can implement is the Carbon Tax or Green Tax as some like to call it. The Carbon Tax requires individuals and organisations that are Green House Gas producers pay for the damage emanating from their emission to the environment. This measure is expected to reduce the amount of these harmful gases that are released to the atmosphere. Revenue accrued from this process can be invested in cleaner energy initiatives and technologies. Technologies such as EV (Electric Vehicles), solar panels and renewables in the cleaner energy spectrum should be offered subsidies to boost their innovation and also localise them for commercial use. More than forty countries are said to have implemented a national carbon and these include Ukraine, Argentina and Singapore.
Adaptation policies could include constructing bridges and roads that could withstand rising sea level and extreme weather condition. As many countries around the world continue to experience increasing extreme weather condition such as torrential rains, floods, heat waves and drought, it is pertinent that adaptation programmes are instituted especially those that would serve the needs of the low-income communities as they are greatly affected by the impact of climate change.
Governments should also prioritise leading by example. Being a role model in the decarbonisation process should be actively explored by the public sector in charge of decision making with respect to the environment. Requiring that contractors stick strictly to its cleaner energy criteria for public procurement is one of the ways to go. The public sector should be responsible and accountable for identifying and mitigating activities that impact negatively on the environment. Government should also task itself in investing in cutting-edge technologies such as smart agriculture and buildings that can help fight climate change.
With a detailed road map produced in collaboration with public policy makers and private stakeholders to highlight the long-term sustainable plans and the institution of a cross-departmental entity to oversee the initiatives while monitoring, tracking and measuring the ensuing results against “an-initially-agreed-upon” benchmark, sustainable policies that have seen the light of the day could stay in such light.
Government should remain committed to creating and maintaining conditions that permit humans to exist in a productive state while fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements to the present and past.
Tundun Aihie is a Geoscientist and a cleaner energy enthusiast.
