Does Africa’s Moral Argument Stand a Chance? Analysing the Disparities Between the Global North and Africa in Global Climate Change Negotiations
摘要
Over the years, Africa’s climate negotiation strategy has been primarily rooted in moral arguments. Africa’s position is that it has contributed the least to the present climate crisis and yet continues to bear a disproportionate quota of its burdens. Furthermore, the countries from the Global North that have benefited the most from the status quo are all developed but wish to constrain Africa’s economic development using unfavourable policies. Africa leverages this moral position to argue for climate justice, emphasising the need for the Global North to provide substantial financial and technological support to help the continent adapt to climate change and transition to low-carbon economies. Whilst these arguments are ethically compelling, this strategy has not been sufficient to secure concrete outcomes for Africa from climate negotiations. Instead, Africa continues to suffer marginalisation in negotiations, resulting in the lack of binding commitments from the Global North. Therefore, since the moral argument strategy alone has not yielded significant progress for the continent’s climate initiatives, this chapter suggests the need for a revised approach. Africa needs to complement the moral argument with a more pragmatic and resource-based approach, which leverages the importance of Africa’s resources in global energy markets.