Paris talks: victory for dollar-thirsty climate change profiteers

Camels spotted in Turkana, North-West Kenya. PHOTO: Laforgue & Lédoux 

Notwithstanding the official outcome of the ongoing climate change talks in Paris, I am of the view that the real verdict, and which will reign supreme, is already out. One, more dollars (and perhaps euros) will be splashed out to supposedly "save the planet". Two, they will end up enriching this cable of profiteers we all know. Three, nobody will be held responsible for polluting the earth. Four, the poor will continue to shoulder the weight of climate Armageddon.

No, I refuse to be dropped into the ocean of skepticism. I am just as clear-headed as any other pro-earth noisemaker. But with one condition: if you stretch the meaning of earth to include the poor. 

This is the reason. Tragedies -whether man-made or natural - always attract many strange faces - some holy, others unholy. We all admit it is a tall order to spot any holy face. In this case I choose to focus on the unholy influential ones. 

Climate change "tragedy" is wholly man-made. This time round natural spirits are blameless. Our greed led to the plunder of our beautiful mother earth. The problem is that we erroneously thought that she will never feel the pain and fight back. We are now feeling the heat.

Again, the problem is those people who will pass these blows (from angry mother earth) to her poor children. Here, I refer to those pseudo-humanitarian apparatchiks and diplo-do-gooders who have already lined up to pocket climate change cash. It is what some might call the unholy trinity of climate change, climate dollars and climate millionaires.

Let's retrace this trajectory. Some twenty years ago, after HIV had gained ground and was mercilessly strangling folks, many governments scrambled to "contain" this deadly virus. I read, many states formed commissions to look into the matter, others passed laws and created special funding channels for, they say, HIV victims. Still others went overboard in a global fund-raising jamboree. As expected, the response was swift and positive. HIV dollars kept flowing in.

You know, it was the thing. Many jobs were created. Hitherto sleepy villages got a taste of “classy city life”. You could smell the elite from all corners.

But many moons after these HIV rains, many souls still languish in pain. The plot just hit the rock. Somebody somewhere might have pocketed "their money". I mean it is just a deadly business. Little has changed. Much has been given. HIV “crowd funding” is still the lifeline of many an in-humanitarian organizations.

Which brings me back to this climate change thing. Will the poor get their full share of this climate cake?

More principally, will this cake be treated as a case of a benevolent big brother extending a helping hand to a poor neighbour? Methinks not. I believe the world poor ought not to say "thank you". This is not aid. Climate change is not the working of the poor.

The reality, however, seems to be stuck in that old-school -ism. Aid-iplomacy. France is already playing ball promising billions of dollars to "save" the world from rising temperatures. Other big boys could not accept to be left out. Every (alleged) pollutant is promising big bundles of climate cash. 

The minions - Africa and her comrades - are on the receiving end. They are ready to "put the money into good use". The casualty in this case is the earth. Questions as to who pollutes and how that should be contained are off the table - at least for now. The bad guys are literally commandeering this climate ship. 

Back to the ground. Climate change move will be meaningful to the majority only if it is materialized in a manner that restores their environment to its state prior to man's plunder. For it is total nonsense to pooh-pooh about rising temperatures and to blame it for water scarcity and water-related conflicts while failing to restore water sources.

Take the case of the mega power and irrigation projects in Ethiopia’s Omo River Basin and their direct and indirect impact on surrounding ecosystems.

Why is the world silent? Who is financing these projects?

Unless the philosophical underpinning of climate change groups finds a solid footing, I have no obligation to sing this climate change song. The aforementioned unholy trinity and all its branches must be demolished at all costs. 

Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. Twitter:    @mlemukol.