In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December, African countries are boycotting climate change conferences. They allege that ‘the world’s rich nations must do more to cut emissions.’ This is just one of the hurdles being encountered by the controversial climate deal negotiations whose final agreements hope to be signed next month. ‘Talks over how to cut back global carbon emissions to ease the effects of climate change have broken down, with African nations arguing that rich nations are not doing their fair share.’

In Barcelona on November 2-6, climate talks ‘aimed at looking into a number of natural remedies that might help manage the rise in global emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the main by products from the burning of oil, coal, and other fossil fuels in electrical power plants and heavy industries.’ The conference saw adverse reaction from African countries, thereby stalling climate negotiations. According to South African delegation head Alf Wills, “They’re saying let’s focus on the real issues, which is targets for developed countries. Richer nations are using “delaying tactics” rather than talking about how Europe and the industrial nations can share the burden more fairly in cutting back on carbon emissions.”

Climate change, however, is a grave issue for Africa that is touted to be the biggest victim of global warming. Its vast arid areas and its poorer population’s reliance on subsistence farming make the continent the most vulnerable to climate change.

According to Christian Lambrechts, a policy coordinator for the United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi, “Africa is heavily impacted by climate change. Africa has experienced some of the world’s highest warming trends, and its relatively poor citizens are living so close to the very edge of subsistence that when major climate changes occur, large numbers are unable to adapt, and must simply move to other areas.”

The current argument from African nations involves the notion of who has the greater responsibility in global warming. These countries argue that ‘it is the richer nations that have been producing greenhouse gases for decades. It is richer nations, too, that have the financial resources to clean up their acts, and it is the richer nations that need to make greater sacrifices.’

Via The Christian Science Monitor