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In talking further with members of the African civil society delegations about the current effects of climate change in their region, Robert Chimambo of Zambia's Civil Society Climate Change Network said that his central African nation of Zambia was "getting rains like we've never seen," while Kenya was experiencing terrible droughts.
Chimambo said his country "needed help yesterday, people are drowning now." He explained that the rains were flood much of the crops that were planted, while waterlogged soils were keeping people from planting crops and undermining the foundations of homes.
His comments were echoed by Tolbert Jallah, a Liberian working in Togo with the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa. He said nations in western Africa also used to have a six month dry season followed by a six month rainy season, but "now we have 10 months of rain."
Jallah described the situation in failed state of Togo, where part of the country is in drought, while the northern areas bordering Burkina Faso are flooded out. He said the drought had created such hot, dusty conditions that even someone like himself from a nearby country found it intolerably hot and dusty.
Both conditions are worsening Togo's food security. Jallah described animals being drowned and washed away in one region and being suffocated by the same heat that's dried up their water and forage in drought-stricken regions.
In his native Liberia, Jallah said that the city of Buchanan (like Togo's capital, Lome) was in danger of being inundated by the rising Atlantic ocean. Many seaside coconut plantations have already been inundated and he said he thought people on the beach would lose everything, "because we never know when the water will come at night." Floods from heavy rains also washed garbage into the cities, posing a health risk particularly to children.
Jallah also said that agriculture was at much at risk in Liberia as in Togo. He said rains often prevent farmers from clearing brush or getting to their farms when the creeks overflow. And forget planting in the rain.
Jallah and I talked a bit about the holdup with climate legislation in the US Senate. I told him that we were having problems getting them to do anything, and that some Senators didn't believe in global warming. He was well shocked.
"If any person says climate change is not real, I think that prson is sick," said Jallah, "I think that person can only be healed when he comes and sees the reality in the continent of Africa. ... The ocean is coming. What can these countries do to stop the ocean?"
Jallah added that he was "not impressed with the US government," or Obama's statements, saying that the US president doesn't show emotional intensity on climate change as he has on other issues. "President Obama, where is the world leadership," he asked.
Emphasizing his belief that it was a much of a concern for all faith-based organizations, as well as a moral country like the US, Jallah said that "if we turn a blind eye to climate change ... it's declaring one side of the world a graveyard."
Jallah said rich countries should offer an equitable deal, at least $20 billion per year in aid, instead of the "chicken feed money" that's on the table now.
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