'On a highway to climate hell'

In hilly Rwanda, heavy rains recently killed 127 people, destroyed 5,100 properties and partially damaging 2,500. In Somalia, 15 were killed while the figure stands at a staggering 440 in Bushushu, south Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Reuters quoted local administrator Thomas Bakenga Zirimwabagabo saying at least 5,000 people remain unaccounted for even though the DRC government released no official figures for the missing.

The floods not only damaged drinking water sources, it left residents no option but to share water from the lake (which contains dead bodies) with animals. Pacifique Chiralwira, the head medical officer of the region, told Reuters: “At the moment the population, the survivors, are going to drink the water from the lake while we continue to discover bodies in there, which exposes us, exposes our population in the long run, to waterborne diseases”.

Parts of Uganda and Sierra Leone were also hard hit, with cars washed away, buildings damaged in Freetown on account of the deluge.

In southern Asia, Cyclone Mocha, the first of the season named by the Indian meteorological department, made landfall two weeks ago on the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar with wind speed of about 255km/h. It brought down pylons and cables, uprooted trees and collapsed a communication tower, shutting down internet and phone services, local media reported.

Cataclysmic, overall.

Some have called the latest round of killer floods nature’s wrath but, we must ask, is it really? The cataclysm is undeniable. Scientists tell us if we don’t do something about our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, we will see an inordinate increase in the number of weather-related killer incidents such as floods. They say, this wave is worse than five, 10 or even 15 years ago. Put differently, it is getting worse with each passing year.

Speaking at the opening of the COP27 summit in Egypt last year, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: “Global temperatures keep rising. And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible. We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot still on the accelerator”.

China, the US and India constitute about 46% of global GHG emissions. By contrast, the bottom 100 economies account for an estimated 2.9% emissions. Extrapolated, this suggests that the richer countries contribute to increased emissions through increased economic activity while the poorest bear the brunt. The injustice, climate hell, is apparent.

If we all paid attention to what we invest in and adopted an activist approach to responsible investing, we might just save the planet

This is why I argued at the recently concluded Global Citizen summit in New York that all of us must invest our energies and resources to tackling one of the biggest, if not the biggest, challenges of our time. It is apparent that major companies in advanced economies are the culprits. If we all paid attention to what we invest in and adopted an activist approach to responsible investing, we might just save the planet. Pressure must be brought to bear on those making decisions so that they take the environment into consideration when they make critical decisions on their next projects.

In the South African context, the question for all involved in major construction is: what are the green energy elements of the new structures? Do major firms simply construct structures and hope that Eskom will eventually have capacity and, if so, that the capacity will be in line with the green agenda?

Global Citizen is about all of humanity, in our diversity, playing a part, big or small, for the broader good of society. It may be a simple tweet or retweet, something that amplifies a call to something worthy, it all adds up in the end.

It may also be a congratulatory note to Nkosana Butholenkosi Masuku, who won the prestigious Cisco Youth Leadership Award at the Global Citizen summit, pocketing $250,000 ( R4.7m), for his effort in eliminating poverty by teaching poor, rural learners science, technology and engineering through practical methods in Zimbabwe. Every action counts. The war we must fight against extreme poverty or environmental degradation requires all of us to unite in action. No-one is coming to save us and we are the ones we have been waiting for, to use former US president Barack Obama’s parlance.

Across the globe, sustainability, one of the three components of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) has, for good reason, become the buzzword. It should not be mere corporate speak. It is important we all put our shoulders to the wheel. By this I mean those whose investments are used by fund managers or banks across the globe should ask questions about the type of economic activities their funds contribute to.

What would be the point of getting high returns at great pace but unleashing the cataclysmic damage we have witnessed in Rwanda, Somalia, DRC or even in KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa? Sustainability must mean a reduction in GHG emissions and extreme poverty.

May the people who have been killed in Rwanda, Somalia and DRC, to mention a few countries, not remain mere numbers. Statistics. May the causes of their deaths not simply be nature’s wrath. May we realise our complicity in the dangers — or climate hell to revert to Guterres’s words — unleashed on mostly the poor. May all of us not be demobilised into inaction.

Global Citizen is our tool, at a global level, to collectively raise our disapproval of certain developments around the world and our collective applause for those like Masuku who are doing something.

If we remain on this path, we will bequeath future generations drought, heatwaves, super storms, melting glaciers, changing and unpredictable precipitation patterns and all other horrific things that leave us collecting the kind of statistics no nation deserves.