Climate change presents a challenge of leadership the likes of which the world has never seen, writes Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, founder of the Green Belt Movement and a co-founder of the Nobel Women’s Initiative.
But industrialised and developing nations have widely divergent responsibilities for creating and solving the climate crisis. Africa, for instance, has contributed only a tiny proportion of the greenhouse gases now warming the planet, around five percent of the total.
Industrialised countries have an obligation to the rest of the world not only to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions markedly, but also to make concrete commitments to assist poorer nations in adapting to climate shocks and forging development paths that don't cost the Earth. That's the way to climate justice.
At the same time, leadership in developing countries must rise to the challenge. Many such nations have experienced decades of environmental mismanagement or outright neglect, and current government policies on adaptation to changing ecological conditions remain largely inadequate.
(*) Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, is the founder of the Green Belt Movement (greenbeltmovement.org) and a co-founder of the Nobel Women’s Initiative (nobelwomensinitiative.org).
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