The earth has always provided for its people and there is no reason to believe that one day the earth can no longer fulfil its duty. This earth will only cease to function, in my opinion, at the command of God who created everything including the earth, just by commanding them to come to being! Different challenges arise at various times and the earth has always risen to the occasion. The real issue then becomes not the inability of the earth to provide for its inhabitants, but the ignorance of its inhabitants to know where to find what.
Increasing food production to feed a projected over 9 billion people in the face of changing climate is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Success in meeting this challenge will undoubtedly require a steady stream of technical and institutional innovations in adapting to changing climatic conditions. Climate change is being made to look like a monster that has come to kill all of us. But the truth is climate change will not kill all of us; in fact, it cannot! It is just a challenge we must overcome to prove our usefulness to this earth as a people and re-emphasise our desire to live and enjoy the earth.
Man’s love for hearing of disaster and threats of disaster makes it is so easy for us to get carried away by the alarm of negative climatic effects being sounded all over the world; thus preventing the world from seeing the benefits such changes may be presenting to us. Regardless of the extent of negative effects, there may be some positive effects and taking advantage of the least of the positive effects is a sure means of reducing vulnerability and enhancing adaptation to climate change. The ability to carefully identify the risks as well as opportunities that climate change presents and maximise the benefits of the opportunities is major step in reducing our vulnerability to climate change.
There are reports of likely positive climatic changes in the highland tropics and in temperate regions; that changes in temperatures and precipitation forecast by the standard models of climate change will actually benefit agriculture in some parts of the world; climate changes may also provide opportunities for agricultural investment, rewarding early action taken to capitalize on these options; rising atmospheric concentrations of CO2, increasing atmospheric CO2 levels, driven by emissions from human activities, can act as a fertilizer and enhance the growth of some crops such as wheat, rice and soybeans; and some estimates suggest that higher CO2 levels could increase crop productivity substantially, by 50% or more. These are all pointers to show that the earth is limitless and when we look deep enough, we will find where the resources are to cater for its people. Inadequate consideration of adaptation options, including not taking advantage of potential benefits, could result in the vulnerability to climate change being significantly over-stated. The earth is limitless and constantly provides opportunities for its people to survive but mostly such opportunities are either overlooked or only seen in the last minute when many people would have already lost heavily. It is time to make conscious effort to always look out, first, for the opportunities in every seemingly unfortunate development.
It’s time to kill our ignorance of climate change issues and be optimistic. We have heard enough of the negative impacts. It’s time to identify and fully utilise the opportunities climate change presents to us. We can’t lose the opportunities and sit crying over negative impacts. A lost opportunity can be as bad as a negative impact and such lost opportunities add up to swell the negative impacts.
“O come let us reason together …”
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Climate Change and Adaptation in Urban Areas
Everywhere I go my mind is filled with climate change: vulnerability and adaptation. I live in the capital of Ghana, Accra, at a suburb called South La Estates. La is also known by many as Labadi. When I first got to my new place about a year ago, I thought that was all Labadi was until Monday when I had to pick a mini-bus (known in Ghana as trotro) to work and I got to know Labadi proper. Whilst the driver meandered through the streets of the “other Labadi” I was seeing, I couldn’t help but think of how differently Climate Change would affect the two Labadis I am seeing: the well-planned South Labadi with clean drains and the slum Labadi I was seeing now.
In places like Labadi and other slums in Accra and other places most of the buildings are sub-standard and obviously not suitable for habitation. Most of these residents are tenants and have no power to develop quality buildings and their landlords are exploiting them. Such residents are usually economic refugees who have moved to the city to seek greener pastures; most of whom inhabit very marginal areas. The influx of people into such marginal and usually flood-prone areas coupled with lack of planning in infrastructure makes them highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change including extreme flooding and storms.
We are all vulnerable to climate change but the effects will be disproportionate depending on how one will be able to adapt. The recent floods that have happened in Accra and other places bring to the fore the unfortunate reality that urban communities are increasingly becoming very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. One may argue that such flooding as witnessed may be due to other factors other than climate change but I believe that climate change is one of the factors. Even if it is not, we are being awakened to the vulnerability of urban populations to floods and storms; which are projected to increase in the face of climate change.
It is time to act locally to save our people and urban communities to adapt to the effects of climate change. The local governments should be resourced well to plan adaptation strategies for urban dwellers, especially those in slums. This is not the time to decide which communities or settlements are legal or illegal. It is time to plan and save. This will need everybody to get on deck: local governments, donor agencies, central government and vulnerable communities. People should be made aware of climate change and its effects and also whip-up their willingness to act.
Friday, October 22, 2010
My Water Quality, My Life Expectancy
It is well acknowledged that water forms a bigger part of man. "The total amount of water in a man of average weight (70 kilograms) is approximately 40 liters, averaging 57% of his total body weight. In baby who has just been born, water may constitute about 75% of the body weight; very high, according to Guyton's Textbook of Medical Physiology. So generally, about 60% of the body weight of any human being is made up water!
Water is really important then, because the water in the body must be constantly replaced. With what do we replace the water in our bodies? With water, of course! It therefore means that the water we drink to keep our bodies functioning properly has to be of really high quality if we really want to have a quality life. In Ghana, many households are without access to clean water and these households are forced to use unhygienic sources of water. Even those who are privileged to be connected to the distribution lines of the Ghana Water Company do not receive any water through their pipes. And when these taps flow, the kind of water that comes out can’t be called quality. Just fetch pipe water in a bucket, allow it to settle and you will be amazed by what you will see settled at the bottom of the water.
Whenever I remember that water makes up about two-thirds of man and I also look at the quality of water I have flowing through my taps for me to use to replace the water that comes out of me through various means, it becomes not so difficult to understand why it is estimated that most Ghanaians will not really live long. Ghana’s life expectancy at birth is around 57 years according to the World Bank (2008) (http://data.worldbank.org/country/ghana). With Ghana aiming at achieving 85% coverage for water supply and sanitation by 2015, which would exceed the Millennium Development Goals' target of 78%, I hope our life expectancy at birth will also increase.
Water is really important then, because the water in the body must be constantly replaced. With what do we replace the water in our bodies? With water, of course! It therefore means that the water we drink to keep our bodies functioning properly has to be of really high quality if we really want to have a quality life. In Ghana, many households are without access to clean water and these households are forced to use unhygienic sources of water. Even those who are privileged to be connected to the distribution lines of the Ghana Water Company do not receive any water through their pipes. And when these taps flow, the kind of water that comes out can’t be called quality. Just fetch pipe water in a bucket, allow it to settle and you will be amazed by what you will see settled at the bottom of the water.
Whenever I remember that water makes up about two-thirds of man and I also look at the quality of water I have flowing through my taps for me to use to replace the water that comes out of me through various means, it becomes not so difficult to understand why it is estimated that most Ghanaians will not really live long. Ghana’s life expectancy at birth is around 57 years according to the World Bank (2008) (http://data.worldbank.org/country/ghana). With Ghana aiming at achieving 85% coverage for water supply and sanitation by 2015, which would exceed the Millennium Development Goals' target of 78%, I hope our life expectancy at birth will also increase.
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