“2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) & Sankofa: (Placing) A Value On Past Environmental Ethics.”
by
Kwaku Kusi-Appiah
Saturday 26 October 2024-
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“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
Henry David Thoreau
“We’ll go down in history as the first society that wouldn’t save itself
because it was not cost effective.”
Kurt Vonnegut
“Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights, too, to live
without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without
Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans.”
Evo Morales
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Abstract
COP29, is upon us, and concerned citizens are beginning to wonder if our environment will still be here, come COP30, to continue catering to our wants. From November 11th to November 22nd, 2024, over 28,000 delegates from member countries will descend on Baku (Azerbaijan) in solidarity for a green world. At this meeting, we will hear many platitudes and some progressive vibes. We will hear about how the fossil fuel industry is working hard to phase out unclean energy. We will hear about how world leaders and environmental stakeholders are trying to figure out how to make finances available to developing countries for the purpose of fighting climate change. We want to believe that all this is not smooth-empty-banter but credible happenings that will contribute to a green world. In this article, we argue that the onus is on us to pause the aggressive agenda that continue to deepen the Anthropocene. We need to return to the environmental wisdom of our Indigenous sisters and brothers all over the globe who value holism over individual fame.
Introduction:
The environment is not some toy we humans can just play with, and then put aside; the environment is us – you and me! We must begin to believe that we are the environment. The age-old belief that humans are apart from the environment is a myth. Our survival is inextricably tied to the survival of all natural species that inhabit the environment.
With our current focus on material things, we need only to invoke our inner Henry David Thoreau and ask ourselves the question:
“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”
Henry David Thoreau, (Environmental scientist and philosopher)
What is the real value of the things we destroy the environment to have?
Who are we trying to impress?
Here in Canada oil continue to impair our collective ability to respond in a principled way to the largest threats facing humankind. The most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assured us that we have less than a decade to drastically decarbonize our economy before most of the cows come home(De Pryke & Hulme, 2022). To move past our materialism and hyper-consumption, humankind need a new kind of environmental ethic; the one that privileges the future of our civilization over the acquisition of material things and borrowed wealth for the purpose of showing off to people who do not even care, and who we do not really like.
Humankind has entered the Anthropocene:
Science has shown us how we have changed our surroundings in ways that were not understood previously. We love to talk about technological innovations that have put us in the category of the civilized, but we forget that these same developments have put us in the Anthropocene, an epoch that clearly indicates that we humans are destroying ourselves slowly but surely. Our activities have produced atmospheric gases that have trapped more of the sun’s energy, warming the land, ocean, and other changes in the atmosphere and biosphere (Von Schuckmann et al., 2020). As Stephen Hawkin puts it:
“One can see from space how the human race has changed the Earth…The polar icecaps are shrinking… At night, the Earth is no longer dark… All of this is evidence that human exploitation of the planet is reaching a critical limit…. We cannot continue to pollute the atmosphere, poison the ocean and exhaust the land. There isn’t any more available.”
(Stephen Hawking, Physicist & Author).
Recovering environmental knowledge:
To be fair, since the Paris Agreement in 2015, significant progress has been made in various areas to address climate change, especially within the fossil fuel industry, particularly in terms of investment patterns, diversification efforts, and the decline of coal. However, the world is still far from meeting its key climate targets. According to various climate reports and assessments, the world is currently on course for global temperature rises of around 2.4°C (36.3°F) to 2.8°C (37°F) by 2100, far above the Paris Agreement’s target to limit warming to well below 2°C, ideally 1.5°C (34.7°F) [Elliott et al., 2023; von Schuckmann et al., 2020; Höhne et al., 2016].
While the world has made some progress since the Paris Agreement, much more needs to be done. COP29 will be crucial in determining whether we can close the emissions gap, scale up climate finance, and strengthen commitments to stay on track for limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C (34.7°F). The focus will likely be on implementation, accountability, and building resilience against the inevitable impacts of climate change, all while ensuring that no country is left behind in the transition.
This will require an expanded set of traditional knowledge, particularly those that Indigenous and local communities have developed over centuries. To live in harmony with all ‘our relations’ (this include plants, animals and other natural creatures) is what humankind need to go back to. In other words, we humans need to revisit concepts like utilitarianism, holism, and ecological balance.
‘Sankofa’ & the Environment:
This is the concept of ‘Sankofa’, a symbol from the Akan people of present-day Ghana, often represented by a bird looking backward while flying forward, holding an egg in its beak (Soko-de-Jong & Maseko, 2022; Alkalimat, 2021; Taylor, 2020).
The word ‘Sankofa’ translates to “go back to fetch it,” signifying the importance of revisiting the past to recover valuable knowledge and applying it to the present and future. The relationship between Sankofa and environmental ethics lies in the shared understanding that learning from the past is essential for creating a sustainable and just future (Soko-de-Jong & Maseko, 2022). The idea of intergenerational equity (i.e., ensuring that future generations inherit a healthy planet) parallels Sankofa’s message. The egg in the Sankofa bird’s beak symbolizes potential and the future. This is akin to the environmental ethic that requires humans to protect natural resources and ecosystems for future generations, drawing on past wisdom and experiences to make sustainable decisions now. Sankofa’s focus on learning from the past to improve the future resonates strongly with this justice-based approach.
By fetching these ideas from the past, we can incorporate more holistic and sustainable approaches to natural resource management. The Sankofa principle teaches that cultural heritage, including environmental stewardship, is vital for current and future well-being (Asante & Archibald, 2023; Okrah, 2008).
‘Sankofa’ and COP29:
And so COP29’s goal of finding the financial resources needed for developing countries to recover damaged ecological systems cannot be an arduous task if humankind collectively believe in the idea that there is only one environment, and that we all live in a closed system (Elliott et al., 2023). Private sector involvement in financing these initiatives is crucial for scaling up sustainable practices globally (Williams, 2014).
Now is the time to seriously address carbon markets and build on unresolved issues from previous COPs (e.g., COP21 in Paris, France). Governments need to strengthen the regulatory frameworks for carbon trading, ensuring transparency and accountability in emission reduction efforts.
But the private sector must not stand by and watch governments to do this alone. The corporate world must contribute financial resources for this to be done. This will be key to driving real environmental restoration efforts, as it encourages investment in green technologies and sustainable projects.
We must not fail!
Work cited:
Alkalimat, A. (2021). The Sankofa Principle. The Digital Black Atlantic.
Asante, D., & Archibald, T. (2023). Beyond Ubuntu: Nnoboa and Sankofa as decolonizing and Indigenous evaluation epistemic foundations from Ghana. Journal of MultiDisciplinary Evaluation, 19(44), 156-165.
De Pryck, K., & Hulme, M. (Eds.). (2022). A critical assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press.
Elliott, C., Schumer, C., Gasper, R., Ross, K., & Singh, N. (2023). Realizing net-zero emissions: Good practices in countries. World Resources Institute. https://doi. org/10.46830/wriwp, 22.
Höhne, N., Drost, P., Bakhtiari, F., Chan, S., Gardiner, A., Hale, T., … & Sterl, S. (2016). Bridging the gap–the role of non-state action. In The Emission Gap Report 2016: A UNEP Synthesis Report, pp. 23-30. UNEP.
Okrah, K. A. (2008). Sankofa: Cultural heritage conservation and sustainable African development. In African Symposium, 8 (2), 24-31.
Soko-de Jong, T., & Maseko, X. (2022). African Traditional Religion: Reclaiming the Sustainable Anthropocenes. ASEAN Journal of Religious and Cultural Research, 5(1), 6-10.
Taylor, C. (2021). Blow by Blow: Sankofa as a Means to Move Forward. Sankofa Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 1(1).
Von Schuckmann, K., Cheng, L., Palmer, L., Hansen, J., Tassone, C., Aich, V. et al., (2020). “Heat stored in the Earth system: where does the energy go?” Earth System Science Data 12, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2013-2020.
Williams, H. (2014). Financing Sustainable Infrastructure, International Development Finance Club, Sustainable Infrastructure Working Group, October 2014, idfc.org
Dr. Kwaku Kusi-Appiah,a demographer and environmentalist is an adjunct professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University. His research seeks to provide a clearer understanding of non-market strategies that determine access to community resources, and how the resulting inequities shape livelihoods in marginalized spaces of Canada and the developing world. Kwaku Kusi-Appiah was president of the Ghana Association of Ottawa (1995-2003) and senior advisor on Diversity to the Mayor of Ottawa (2004- 2006) where he led many multi-disciplinary teams to solve complex diversity issues in a timely & sensitive manner. In September 2018, Kusi-Appiah was appointed by the Lt. Governor of Ontario as a public member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario College of Social Work and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW), a position he held till 2021..
As someone passionate about sustainability, this article spoke to me. Your dedication to environmental justice inspires me.
I’m soo proud of you , Dr kwaku Kusi Appiah
Continue the good working of your people and i pray you go far ❤️
You are a sustainability apologist. Keep up the good work you are doing in Africa.
I think of this issue like a child that falls and scrapes their knee. First thing they do is cry and then get their mom to fix it. Simple as that. The same is with our planet. People are recognizing that we are destroying it.
And therefore, there is a shift in consciousness.
Toward Repairing it. Even though it’s not totally evident, I feel there is a tremendous change in consciousness. It’s like an inner alarm that is going off and won’t stop until we do something. I have faith and I already see changes. As small as they may seem, the tide is changing.
This is so exceptional. Prof. Andy Kusi-Appiah. Well put and articulated. I think articles like this should act as an alarm to both developed and developing countries to act so faster than expected, so we reduce the effect of climate change worldwide and find lasting solutions that can help, especially the least developing countries that face severe impacts from this climate change, despite the fact there are fewer contributors to the climate change. Good work, Prof. Keep on informing us and reminding us about the environment and its possible demands.
Dear Masulani, thank you for your kind words! I really appreciate it. Climate change continue to affect us all, regardless of where we are, and we need to quickly find ways of dealing with it.
Fortunately, our Indigenous philosophies have the tools to deal with this. We need to go back to those ideas & incorporate them into our solutions.
We do not need to reinvent the wheel, all we need to do it to unlearn the western philosophies, relearn and rethink based on our rich Indigenous philosophies.
We can do it!