Summit served rude awakening on real danger

President William Ruto speaks during the Africa Climate Summit at the KICC in Nairobi on September 6, 2023. [Stafford Ondego, Standard] In 1953, John Wyndham published a frightful story titled The Kraken Wakes. Borrowing from Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem, "The Kraken", Wyndham's book is a horrific end of times narrative. It speaks of Planet Earth under assault by frightful creatures from the deep sea. Earlier, in 1951, Wyndham had issued The Day of the Triffids, in which people on Planet Earth are blinded by poisonous rain, caused by creatures from outer space. A strange plant, caused by the rain, completes the task by bringing death. Such was the mind that imagined The Kraken Wakes and the natural havoc they wrought. The creatures in The Kraken Wakes were not just from the deep oceans that Lord Tennyson recounted in his 19th century sonnet. The horrendous beings arrived from outer space in the style of unidentified flying objects. Now resident in the sea, they would emerge in the quiet of the night, to unleash terror. Nobody ever saw them. They were only known by their violence against humankind. Nor did anyone know the weapons they used to wreak disaster. Regardless, the government tried to counter the unknown enemy, and to hide information about him, to prevent panic. The Kraken Wakes and The Day of the Triffids are, of course, fiction. Seven decades later, the world has this week assembled in the Kenyan capital, to ponder, not about fictional extra-terrestrial beings, but about man destroying his habitat. The Africa Climate Summit 2023 was about real danger. It was a rude wake-up call on things ignored over the years. In 1962, Rachel Carson gave us Silent Spring, a volume that warns humankind about destructive chemical pesticides on the natural environment. If Wyndham's books were apocalyptic science fiction, Carson's book was factual. So, too, was what world leaders came to discuss in Nairobi. We are destroying the planet. Our activities are destroying the environment and changing the climate, for worse. The globe is warming, as a factor of greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists are telling us we are burning oil, coal, and natural gas to discharge more carbon-dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere in unsafe proportions. Electricity, factories, transport, and even refrigeration, microwaves, gas cookers, firewood, coal among many other day-to-day usage and appliances, are all contributing to degradation of the climate. The good news in the bad news is that Africa lags behind in this destruction of the atmosphere. That is to say we contribute just about 3 per cent to the mess. The remaining 97 per cent belongs to rest of the world, with China and US leading. The world is, meanwhile, telling Africa that she holds the key to safer climate. We have the best carbon sinks. This means our oceans, soils and forests are best placed to absorb greenhouse gas emissions. Looked at critically, we are being told that we have the best dumping grounds for these emissions. A dumping ground is just that, regardless of deodorised names. Countries that emit more of these harmful gases than what is allocated to them by international covenants can buy more allocations at between USD 40 and 80 per unit from those that do not reach their allocation. They call it carbon credit. Africa has the most of these credits. And so it is asked to go easy on what the big industrial nations have done to get them where they are. Slow down on industrialisation, use safer sources of energy, and grow more forests. There are three issues. Slow down, reverse, don't begin. The Nairobi Declaration calls on the international community to engage with the undeniable climate emergency. Africa's collective stand on the fundamental questions is admirable. The continent must reject being placed on the back foot in the climate debate, and in all others. -Dr Muluka is a strategic communications advisor. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke

Summit served rude awakening on real danger

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