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It is hypocritical for western governments, made rich by fossil fuels, to say to African countries, you cannot develop dams, you cannot develop coal, just rely on these very expensive renewables

Africa and Climate Activists



Africa and Climate ActivistsIf in the coming decades, Africa was to achieve rapid economic growth of the kind that China has experienced, it would lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But as the rich world can attest, economic growth both requires energy consumption and leads to more of it, most of which must be provided by fossil fuels. 1 Without abundant fuel and power, prosperity is impossible: workers cannot amplify their production, doctors cannot preserve vaccines, students cannot learn after dark, goods cannot get to market. Nearly 700 million Africans rely mainly on wood or dung to cook and heat with, and 600 million have no access to electric light. Britain with 60 million people has nearly as much electricity generating capacity as the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, minus South Africa with 800 million. 2
A recent report from the non-profit Center for Global Development estimates that $10 billion invested in renewable energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa could provide electricity for 30 million people. If the same amount of money went into gas fired generation, it would supply about 90 million people--three times as many. Having failed to stem carbon emissions in rich countries or in rapidly industrializing ones, policy makers have focused their attention on the only remaining target: poor countries that do not emit much carbon to begin with. The Obama administration imposed a cap on emissions from energy projects of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a US federal agency that finances international development. Other institutions of the rich world that have decided to limit support for fossil fuel energy projects include the World Bank and the European Investment Bank. Such decisions have painful consequences. 3 Former Democratic Governor of California Jerry Brown believes that poverty stricken residents of the developing world who want to emulate American prosperity should not be allowed to do so because 'it's not viable.' 4 Climate activists' ill founded opposition to fossil fuels threatens to stop a major pipeline in East Africa and stymie economic growth in Uganda and Tanzania, home to some of the world's poorest people. The 895 mile long pipeline from Uganda's Lake Alberta region to the seaport of Tanga will be the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world and will carry 216,000 barrels per day. The project received a green light for construction after the completion of an Environment and Social Impact Assessment. The government of Uganda expects massive employment of its citizens during construction through direct employment of about 14,000 people by the companies, indirect employment of about 45,000 people by the contractors, and induced employment of about 105,000 people as a result of utilization of other services by the oil and gas sector. Of the direct employment, 57 percent are expected to be Ugandans, which is expected to result in an estimated $48.5 million annual payment to Ugandan employees. 5

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Global war against fossil fuel has now reached Ugandan soil

However, the global war against fossil fuel has now reached Ugandan soil and extremists are determined to stop this lifesaving economically critical project. Climate extremists are fostering the continuation of abject poverty in Africa, a continent with the lowest ll of electrification and highest rates of poverty in the world. Activists claim the pipeline is another colonial project subjecting Africans to slavery. But it is the activists and their ilk who are the colonialists and would-be slave masters. Five years ago looking at Niger, a nation of 17 million people, the country used about as much electricity as Dubbo, Australia, a town with about 40,000 residents. As Matt Ridley says, “Africa needs to be rich—rather than green.” 2 Genetically modified crops are yet to penetrate deep into the African agricultural sector due to opposition from anti-GMO lobbies and radical environmentalists. In the summer of 2002, when famine gripped Africa, the US sent massive amounts of corn to several countries, including about 17,000 tons to Zambia. But there it rotted. It turns out the Zambian government had been told by environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth that the food was ‘poison'.6 Dennis Avery reported, "Greenpeace and Friends say that Africans should drop foodstuffs that some of those organizations American members have been eating for the past decade with no ill effects, so that Western greens can make a political point. Never mind that this was the same resistant corn the had been approved for safety by three different US government agencies, and eaten daily since 1995 by millions of Americans in such forms as corn flakes, corn flour, and through live stock feed, hamburgers and ice cream. Biotech foods have undergone more testing than any foods in history, with no danger found." 7

Westerners want to save developing countries from the problems that they might encounter in the future, rather than help them to deal with the problems they are actually facing today. There have actually been seat belt campaigns in parts of Africa where the only vehicle for a hundred miles was an aid-agency Land Rover. 8 Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank, sums this up well: "It is hypocritical for western governments, made rich by fossil fuels, to say to African countries, you cannot develop dams, you cannot develop coal, just rely on these very expensive renewables. African countries will not listen.”

References

  1. Roger Pielke and Daniel Sarewitz, "Climate policy robs the wold's poor of their hopes," climatedepot.com, February 28, 2014
  2. Matt Ridley, “Africa needs to be rich—rather than green,” the gwpf.com,
  3. Marc Morano, "Prof. Roger Pielke Jr. in Financial Times: Climate activists promote green imperialism that helps lock in poverty--climate policy robs the world's poor of their hopes," climatedepot.com, February 28, 2014
  4. Marc Morano, "Flashback 2002: Jerry Brown says 'it's not viable' for poverty stricken developing world to emulate prosperity of US," climatedepot.com, August 20, 2009
  5. Vijay Jayaraj, "Climate colonialists disrupt African pipeline, perpetuate poverty," realclearenergy.org, April 28, 2022
  6. Michael Fumento, Bio Evolution: How Biotechnology is Changing Our World, (San Francisco, CA, Encounter Books, 2003)
  7. Dennis T Avery, "Environmentalists turn to terrorism," Hudson Institute, September 26, 2002
  8. Environmental Health: Third World Problems--First World Preoccupations, Lorraine Mooney and Roger Bate, Editors, (Oxford, Butterworth Heinemann, 1999), 224


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Jack Dini -- Bio and Archives

Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology.  He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.


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