Global warming
Climate change will effect employment in Africa

afrol.com, 20 November - "The employment implications of climate change must be addressed by the Parties to this Convention, if you want to secure the support of broad sectors of society." The declaration was made today by International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in the Hague to world leaders attending the International Climate Change meeting. Climate change is due to have severe negative effects on employment in Africa.

- Overall, trade unions feel that you have not yet met the commitments of the Kyoto Protocol which asked you to strive to minimise adverse effects of climate change, including the social impacts", added Vice-President Trotman of the ICFTU.

The little research that has been done on the impact of climate change on employment shows that the issue is twofold. On a short term, closing down industries that contribute to global warming will create unemployment, however sure to be created in other sectors that will start producing alternatives. When it comes to the effects of the global warming, this is already documented to have a negative effect on employment, both on an African and a global scale.

Unions however feel the issue should be studied more thoroughly. A 30-member trade union delegation will attend the International Climate Change meeting and participate in a lobbying effort to push for more cooperation between the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the OECD and the European Union to better assess the employment implications of climate change. Trade unions believe that the level of knowledge about the impact of climate change on global employment and the measures to limit its impact, are often overlooked by decision-makers.

The trade unions delegation also intends to press for a commitment from the government delegations to include on the agenda for the following meetings, discussion on social impacts and the development of "just Transition" plans for workers who in the future will be displaced or whose livelihood will be affected by climate change.

According to the 1997 report "The Regional Impacts of Climate Change: An Assessment of Vulnerability" edited by Robert T. Watson, Marufu C. Zinyowera and Richard H. Moss, the social and labour consequences of a global warming will be significant in Africa. "Reduced stream flows would cause reductions in hydropower production, leading to negative effects on industrial productivity and costly relocation of some industrial plants. Management of pollution, sanitation, waste disposal, water supply and public health, as well as provision of adequate infrastructure in urban areas, could become more difficult and costly under changed climate conditions," the report concludes.

Additionally, there is the dominant agriculture sector, main employer in Africa, which will be most directly influenced by a climate change. In most African countries, farming depends entirely on the quality of the rainy season, a situation that makes Africa particularly vulnerable to climate change. 

- Increased droughts could seriously impact the availability of food, as in the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa during the 1980s and 1990s, the report states. "A rise in mean winter temperatures also would be detrimental to the production of winter wheat and fruits that need the winter chill. However, in subtropical Africa, warmer winters would reduce the incidence of damaging frosts, making it possible to grow horticultural produce susceptible to frosts at higher elevations than is possible at present. Productivity of freshwater fisheries may increase, although the mix of fish species could be altered."

A recent publication by Don Hinrichsen (published by World Watch Institute) also shows that the societal consequences of a 1-meter rise of the oceans will be tremendous in Africa. Whole cities, the economic and labour centres, could disappear. Banjul, the Gambian capital, lies in the mangroves, and the entire city is no more than a meter above sea level. Close to 4 million people would be displaced and part of the Nigerian economic capital of Lagos would be under water. Alexandria, Egypt's second city, could be lost. "The demise of this ancient city would cost the country over US$ 32 billion in lost land, infrastructure, and tourist revenue," according to Hinrichsen's study. 

Hinrichsen also shows how certain labour intensive African sectors would suffer. Oil production in the Niger Delta and elsewhere would be impaired. At least 2 million hectares of the fertile Nile Delta would be lost to the advancing sea and another 10,000 hectares of productive crop land would be subject to erosion and salinization. Some 8-10 million people would be displaced in Egypt - and their working place will lie under one meter of sea water.

Source: Based on ICFTU and afrol archives

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