Long term goals, lasting weapon for climate change!

The world is witnessing some of the greatest commitments by countries in fighting climate change. These missions are widely believed to draw its breath on the countries abilities to create dramatically farsighted goals that will inspire and direct run actions.

This in turn calls for ambitious movements that must be visible not only among exchanges of congratulatory pats among diplomats and negotiators, but in the nation's progress in invigorating the environmental policies too, centered on how they intend to catch up with the fast pace climate change.

Considering multiple ends of the economy’s reality, mobilizing resources necessary to change the world's course towards renewable energy for instance cannot happen overnight, however it's desired it should be visibly progressive towards the achievement of zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Already jotted in the diary of human history is how 2015 has been the hottest year in recorded account, with daily average temperatures rising towards 50 degrees Celsius in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s further estimated that heat waves caused the death of 500 people in India, this year alone.

Yet climate scientists don't see any hope in reduction of climate triggered troubles in the coming years, if humanity doesn't take action right now: forthrightly, no country doesn't want to develop and grow and fight climate change epidemic. But let's take two: what happens if the changing activities of the earth impede a hurdle on our national development objectives including the objectives to solve the predicament?

We all can guess it right – There will be a vicious cycle of endless crises. And this is what’s happening most African counties grappling with multiplicity of challenges that require ambitious goal settings. Poverty and hunger are just one of them. The World Food Program and the celebrated saviour of sub-Saharan African regions like Somalia should know this. The 'worst draught in 60 years' that simultaneously hit Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda in 2011 clearly sprung from climate change. The outbreak is believed to have gone with more than 6000 lives.

Whereas Transparency International relates poor goal settings with the majority of African countries, which results to high levels of public policy failures, its hoped that the Hell-like impacts of climate change cultivates candor in dealing with the long term global climate objectives of keeping global temperatures to an average of 1.5 degrees Celsius come 2050.

2050 remains our year of hope that the current climate actions taken by individual countries will fruit out. But because bringing down global temperatures, climate scientists stress, is directly related to ending carbon emissions, its prudent counties spearhead energy policies with a long-term purpose of solving energy crisis in their economies.

Such an ambition is highly visible in the Democratic Republic of Congo's current course: with only 18% of its people connected to electricity, the county aims to become a green economy by 2060. This of course has brought her to the path to Paris's UNFCC to make a binding agreement and build partnerships for this desired goal attainment.

Ghana’s total installed generation capacity is about 2900 megawatts but it is currently running at 1200 megawatts. Amidst such a crisis, the Minister for Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has publicly stated that he will resign if he is unable to solve the power crisis by the end of the year. If African leaders shy away from confronting African problems, then we the followers have all the reasons to be afraid.

Talking of energy crises, Uganda is yet another country seems to be playing hide and seek with the attainment of policy goals stretching political to environmental. With less than 10% of rural electricity coverage, the country likes to lament about over rampant deforestation, with increasing encroachment on national forest reserves.

Given an aerial view of the country, environmental authorities believe the green vegetation cover of the 70s is soon petering out given high demands of firewood and charcoal as the major energy sources by households. Wrapped by the price tags of electricity, even those connected to it cannot afford it for other heavy-duty purposes such as cooking.

Thus, if the global climate agreement will yield consistent policy agenda in Africa, a decisive focus is required in the long-term energy targets of countries energy policies with unusual attention to energy finance, thinkable, requiring subsidizations from the government and development partners alike, with a solitary intention not to power the current political bandwagons but to ensure the UNFCC agreement comes to pass. This is not only crucial in facilitating future climate discussions and short term goals, but a critical basis upon which progress is can be evaluated along the way to 2050 goal.