Challenges of Symbiotic Relationship of Global Warming, National Interest Ideology of Nation States and the Project of a Low Carbon Society: An African Perspective

The memory is fresh and the grief due to the devastating impact of climate change on humanity during the past decade is still raw in the psychic of international community. Specifically, on December 26, 2004 tsunami swept through Asia. In Indonesia it killed over 130,000 people while at least 37,000 went missing and about 500,000 people were made homeless. Sri Lanka lost more than 31,000 lives while 100,000 homes were damaged along with crops and fishing boats and more than 400,000 people lost their jobs. It is this dynamic, overwhelming, destructive capacity associated with climate change as manifested in hurricanes, tsunamis, quakes and floods that makes it a special and different security problem. Any delay in addressing the problem of climate change promptly and radically too may mean that the planet earth may soon be irrevocably damaged and prevented from carrying out its sustaining role for humanity. This has challenged the global community, NGOs and concerned individuals to call for a low carbon society and organize conferences and formulate treaties and environment policies, and laws. All these are carried out within the context of national interest ideology. Consequently, climate change is still a serious challenge to human security. Why has global warming/climate change not been checkmated before now despite the huge world’s resources inclusive of its technology? It is this challenge that this paper is interrogating in the face of the global environmental goal of a low carbon society and environmental wholeness from an African perspective.