Why is Climate Change More Drastic in African Countries?
By Paula Fagbule
Esther Kiobel is a human rights defender currently in ecological exile. She comes from Ogoni land, a kingdom with a rich reserve of fossil fuels, which has been laid desolate over time due to overexploitation from the oil company Shell Nigeria. Kiobel filed a class action lawsuit against Shell in 2012 due to human rights abuses, but at the heart of the case was the environmental degradation of the Ogoni region of Niger Delta due to the exploitation of oil.
Paula Fagbule, MALD F’24
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) did an environmental assessment of Ogoni Land, and determined that the oil contamination is extremely severe in the region. The Ogoni people suffer from contaminated soil and groundwater with some areas exceeding the Nigeria national standards, as set out in the Environmental Guidelines and Standards for the Petroleum Industries in Nigeria (EGASPIN). Oil pollution in the area damages crops, impacts yields, contaminates water damaging the life cycle of fish, and the risk of oil spillage on land can cause fires.
The UNEP assessment states that environmental restoration for Ogoni land is possible, but it will take up to 25-30 years using a combination of approaches due to massive degradation. In 2016, the federal government of Nigeria made a goal to clean up the oil spillage in Ogoni, but as of 2022, there has been little to no change in the situation. Instead, there was a recent oil spillage in one of the communities in Ogoni land.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, five African countries are among the list of the ten countries most affected by climate change. Africa currently produces nearly 9% of the world’s gas reserves and 6% of global natural gas compared to the Middle East, which produces 62% of the world’s gas reserves. This begs the question – “Why are the effects of climate change much more drastic in Africa than in other parts of the world?”
One the main reasons for the heightened effects of climate change in Africa are the aforementioned irresponsible oil field practices. For example, even though the oil industry in the Ogoni area is no longer active, oil spills continue to occur with “alarming regularity,” according to the UNEP report. The American petroleum industry has about 800 standards for the oil and gas industry in the US, which include environmental protection and sustainability across the industry. Meanwhile, some oil producing African countries have little to no standards for oil production, giving oil companies an opportunity to take advantage.
There are certainly other reasons that have caused climate change to be more drastic in African countries compared to other countries around the world. Poverty is a significant factor. There is often a lack of access to infrastructure, with most rural communities using unsustainable practices, such as using traditional firewood or biomass. This contributes to air pollution and negative health effects. There have been alternative options created to deter people from using biomass, such as the 2022 winner of the Earthshot prize, a woman from Nairobi who created a new type of clean stove that produces 90% less pollution than the traditional biomass.
Although there has been a lot of progress with regards to sustainability in Africa, the implementation of various climate strategies in Africa won’t be possible without taking a look at the nuances of the fossil fuel usage in African countries.
Paula Fagbule is a first year MALD candidate at the Fletcher School.
This is the second post in our Black Legacy Month blog series.