One of the greatest threats to Africa’s economy is climate change. Climate change tests not only this continent’s development and survival but also Africa’s resiliency.
What is the outlook of the current African economy amid global threats such as climate change? An alarming subject, yet something that anyone and everyone should heed and pay attention to, Africa’s climate change-stricken economy is an eye-opener to the neighboring countries and the rest of the world. Samuel Enajite Enajero’s book Collective Institutions in Industrialized Nations delves into the African socioeconomic factors. Enajero talks about societies living without dynamic collective institutions relying on fundamental institutions at the zero order – zero order institutions and poverty. Developing nations of sub-Saharan Africa currently struggle with economic development. One of the factors significantly impacting their economic development and growth is climate change.
Africa and the Climate Change
Climate change is the greatest warning to the existence of humankind. So significant is this threat that it can threaten livelihoods and men’s lives. With the ever-increasing ocean temperature, rising sea level, and intense drought affecting crops, plants, and wildlife species, there’s no stopping the hazards and havoc wrecked on the planet.
The continent in focus of this article – the African continent – highlights the effect of the bludgeoning force of global climate change on this tropical, sub-Saharan continent. Africa is generally tagged as one of the poorest continents in the world due to a history of conquest and occupation of colonialism, inter-regional ethnic conflict, and constant political strife, despite being the birthplace of the human race. Now, it faces another looming menace that worsens and worsens every minute – the perils of climate change.
Africa’s climate range is a surprising, delightful contrasting mix of equatorial, tropical wet and dry, tropical monsoon, semi-arid, desert-like, and subtropical highland climate. Africa lies within the intertropical zone between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, grounding Africa as the most tropical continent. And because of the persistent hot and dry climate, the African continent is the most vulnerable to climate change.
The Effects
It’s not Africa’s natural landscape that contributes to the impact brought by climate change on the continent. In fact, it is a conjoined effort of century after century of man’s abuse of natural sources worldwide. Setting fire to fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, and oil to produce electricity and heat generates global emissions, commonly known as air pollutants. These air pollutants have adverse environmental effects such as acid rain, smog, and decreased atmospheric visibility.
Cutting down trees for the sake of progress not only lessens man’s supply of clean natural oxygen to breathe in but also destroys and hinders nature’s capacity to prevent carbon dioxide from spreading into the air since trees are natural carbon dioxide absorbers. Aside from that, the loss of trees and vegetation contributes to soil erosion and desertification, which results in extreme flooding events and heat exposure for most vegetation, people, and wildlife.
Climate Change and the Economy
Studies show that by 2030, extreme weather and climate change will severely impact African countries. From that onset, the already majority poverty-stricken nation will start experiencing macroeconomic losses.
The most vulnerable sector to climate change is agriculture. With Africa’s currently hot and dry natural landscape, temperatures and precipitation are likely to see a significant variation and increase, affecting crop and soil fertility and ultimately affecting Africa’s primary source of livelihood.
With the rising temperature, Africa’s agricultural sector is likely to experience more, if not prolonged, periods of droughts, and floods, brought by extreme weather occurrences such as the El Niño or La Niña. Because of this, the industry’s crop revenue could drop as low as 90% by 2100. The percentage of arable land available for production could also decline as lands become much and much less unfit for agricultural activity.
The fishing sector also sees a drastically decreasing productivity trend due to rising sea temperatures. There is an increase in fish migration activity as fishes abandon their original territories to seek much cooler waters. Hence, this also affects Africa’s food supply.
This being said, climate change brought into the spotlight the African economy’s top concerns: food security, industrialization, labor, inter, intra, and global trade. Food security regarding food supply, nutrition, storage, and sustainable management. Industrialization, labor, and trade when it comes to affected infrastructures, unemployment, decrease in export supply, etc.
One could see the impact brought by climate change on Africa’s economy through a decline in labor and revenue, decrease or loss of productivity, unemployment, damage to infrastructure and property, mass migration, security threats, etc.
Africa’s Resiliency
With Africa’s resiliency greatly affected by the adverse progression brought by global warming, extreme weather, and climate change, and a projected outlook of grim macroeconomic consequences in the following decades, this begs the question, is there still hope for Africa’s economy?
It all depends on how much effort individuals, businesses, and the government puts in to pull Africa out of the abyss it is currently in the climate change situation. The measures people adapt, drastic or not, will be the make or break point of Africa’s economic growth. Individuals need to consider their actions and initiatives in saving the environment.
The working sector or industries need to analyze their operations carefully and scrutinize the best sustainable practices that work well with the environment and climate change. Government should be proactive and initiate programs, activities, agendas, and laws to counter and prepare for the effects of climate change. Government leaders should invest in development programs to help recover their economic losses and strengthen and improve current infrastructure, resources, and industries.
Ultimately, Africa’s economic resiliency may be tested. However, there is still much hope left for survival and growth – so long as all sectors move forward in one direction to fight against global warming and survive the impact of climate change.
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CLIMATE CHANGE VERSUS INTERPERSONAL POLLUTIONS
IN AFRICA
By
Samuel Enajero, Ph.D.
Climate change is real, and sub-Saharan Africa is not immune from the global impacts. It is reported that across sub-Saharan Africa, there is a decrease of about 16% in total forest cover, followed by a 15% increase in barren land. A projected rainfall change for the remainder of the 21st century is expected to intensify the existing water shortage in the region. Regional climate studies suggest drying over most parts of West Africa, Uganda, Kenya, and South Sudan. An elevated change in the level of carbon dioxide in some regions of the continent is also projected (Niang, I. et al.). Majority of the people are barely surviving, living at the subsistence level; the effect of a persistent climate crisis will exacerbate already pathetic conditions.
Firms in the process of production emit carbons and chemicals that pollute and destroy the ozone layers. In the economic literature, pollution by firms or any agents are analyzed as negative externalities. Externalities are spillovers to a third party by economic agents as they carry out private activities and could be positive or negative. The third party here is the planet earth. The old English Common Laws were intended to curb negative externalities. Coase (1960) refers to negative externalities as social costs. Buchanan and Tullock (1962) call it interdependence cost; and a politician in DC tagged it “sh*tholes” (Vitali, 2018). Although firms have been regulated and are required to take social responsibilities by embracing green technologies, the rate of the climate crisis is yet to reverse its course.
Firms are not the only economic agents that produce; households also produce and, in so doing, incur plenty of spillovers that are offensive to other households. This is also a negative externality, labeled here as interpersonal pollutions. Pollutions by individuals occur in different forms and are well internalized in advanced countries. These countries eradicate interpersonal pollutions by and large through proper land use, neighborhood and regional planning followed by infrastructures, including drainage, garbage collections, policing, etcetera. In addition, advanced societies criminalize and prosecute behaviors that exudate interpersonal pollutions. Thus, affluent countries make the sources of interpersonal pollution (child rearing, formal education, housing, public transportation, roads, sanitation, safety, power) public goods. In the absence or inadequate availability of these local public goods, there are public bad––interpersonal pollutions.
For example, in addition to early childhood development, education is the acquisition of human capital. Yet, basic education in sub-Saharan Africa is not a collectively provided public good because it is not mandatory that kids attain certain levels of quality education. Also, reproduction or child rearing is another activity that emits pollutions in sub-Saharan Africa. Couples may decide to have 4-5 children even when they cannot sufficiently cater to themselves. These kids appear weak due to malnutrition, and coupled with illiteracy, they grow up to become a social nuisance. The same could be said about the lack of public transportation, whereby unfit vehicles and motorbikes are operated by individuals as means of transportation. Not to mention unauthorized stalls and shacks that crop up daily in large cities. All these currently culminate in a bigger economic hazard compared to climate change.
Poverty in Africa did not originate from climate change; climate change did not repel capitals; climate change did not cause contagious diseases; and above all, the climate crisis did not rob Africa and its descendants of their pride. Africans accepted local habits (zero-order institution) that exude interpersonal pollutions in the societies generate the aforementioned problems. These habits are the sources of underdevelopment. Sub-Saharan African policymakers are convinced that interpersonal pollution is a function of gross domestic products (GDP), and as GDP rises, interpersonal pollutions will disappear. Moreover, it is implied in the literature that interpersonal pollutions are shared practices determined by genetically controlled habits. It is assumed, therefore, that interpersonal pollution is outside the economic domain. Thus, authorities, by being lenient to habits that contribute to interpersonal pollutions, inadvertently entrench Africans in abysmal poverty.
Furthermore, Interpersonal pollutions emanate from unorganized and crowded neighborhoods leading to the easy circulation of contagious diseases that might have originated from other parts of the world. As a consequence, there is the global perception that Africa is the home of deadly diseases. These perceptions hurt Africa rather than help in their quest for investments. Interpersonal pollutions cause poverty in two ways––first, the habit distorts the efficient resource allocations by both the giver and receiver of the spillover. Recall that out of the three basic economic resources, man and land are natural, and capitals are man-made. The presence of interpersonal pollutions is tantamount to downgrading the land and retarding the man. This can be proven with mathematical functions. Secondly, interpersonal pollutions create blights. In the literature, there are “flights from blights,” a concept that describes the exodus of capitals from un-sanitized and unsafe regions of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa needs capital, but interpersonal pollution (not global warming) raises the costs of capital. Meaning investments in the region have greater risks than returns.
The first major role of governments is the reallocation of resources where the free market, based on the principles of laissez-faire, fails. Governments all over the world fulfill this role by the provision of public goods that spontaneously eliminate negative externalities. Governments in sub-Saharan Africa, however, shirk this responsibility believing that private enterprise will substitute for government actions. This is convenient for the Africans because laissez faire is harmonious with the local cultures.
The elimination of interpersonal pollution is multifaceted. The process promotes human decency, diligence, dignity, and decorum, without which there are characteristics that question humanity. National image is as important in economics as in politics. Some nations in the region spend millions of dollars annually on international relations attempting to repair their national damaged global image. This is a misplaced priority. Sub-Saharan African nations could better improve their image abroad by exterminating interpersonal pollutions at home. Moreover, calculative efforts to change habits that cause spillovers are part of making the economic man.
On the whole, actions by firms are responsible for climate change. Actions by individuals generate interpersonal pollutions. Inactions by governments led to climate change and interpersonal pollutions. Interpersonal pollutions make sub-Saharan Africa gravely more susceptible to the dangers posed by the climate crisis. If governments believe that private enterprise can solve all social problems because free market is a rapport with existing local zero-order institutions, then sub-Saharan African nations must brace for economic disaster. As sub-Saharan African nations are wary of climate change, they should not be oblivious to the economic gravity of interpersonal pollutions resulting from local habits.
References
Buchanan, J. and Tullock, G. The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of
Constitutional Democracy. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1962.
Coase, R. “The problem of Social Cost.” Journal of Law and Economics, 1960.
Niang, I. et al. Africa and Climate Change. Downloaded July 20, 2022.
Vitali, A. et. al. “Donald Trump Referred to Haiti and African Nations as ‘Sh*tholes’ Countries.” NBC News, last modified January 10, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-referred-haiti-african-countries-shithole-nations-n836946
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