Foreign Policies on Climate Change Memorandum - Essay Example

MEMORANDUM President Barack Obama April 22, RE: Foreign Policies on Climate Change Nowadays, climate change is a global challenge. The problem is more intensely felt in Africa. This issue is further worsened by the continent’s poor economic development state and reduced adaptive ability (Metz 23). The continent is often plagued by natural disasters such floods and droughts and extreme poverty hence making it more vulnerable to climate changes. Climate change has, and still continuous, to have negative impacts on many development sectors in Africa. Thus, climate change threatens the economies of many African countries. Notably, human activity is the leading factor towards the warming of the continent, specifically the automobile industry that releases gasses like Carbon dioxide (Metz 31). By and large, the effects of climate change are also felt in United States. With only 5 percent of the total world’s population, the U.S is responsible for a fifth of the world’s carbon dioxide emission. Climate change has internationally been recognized as global threat (Metz 7). Africa has the chance to develop economically if only it became the world leader in embracing clean technologies. Moreover, the continent is well poised to grow if domestic demand boosts up the nascent. In overall, there is a great deal of more research and development in the sector, especially when the emission from industries continues to rise. The justification for the Africa adopting a strong greenhouse gas reduction strategy is central in combating climate changes. Furthermore, implementing strong foreign policies ultimately poses a great deal to development. In my opinion, there are three proposals that I potentially believe could be reasonable enough to precipitate significant impact in addressing climate change in Africa. First, to avert the potential dangers stemming from climate change in Africa and United States, the State has created multiple agencies to fight this menace. The president tasks each agency with specific responsibilities that are related to minimizing the effects of global challenges. This is because if unchecked, temperature increase could lead to food shortage, droughts, and even rise to sea levels. These responsibilities feature all probable potential consequences of climate change as well as allow for the addition of the unforeseen effects. Disasters arising from climate change effects, for example, storms are usually under the direct control of FEMA. However, delegate certain disasters like the rise in sea levels fall under the Department of Security. Also, other agencies are tasked with the responsibilities constructing canals and water dam plans in arid and semi-arid parts of the continent. This proposal has the advantage that it requires little funding and few initial resources. Furthermore, it provides helpful guides should any crisis arise. What is more is that responsibilities are made clear thus averting any conflicts that might arise due to inter- agency conflicts. The conflicts could potentially lead to wastage of money time, money, and even risk lives. Secondly, Africa has been hosting climate change summit after every two years. In particular, this helps keep the subject of climate change within the public discourse. It also fosters the pressure that results from an actionable strategy for climate change. In addition, this commitment and collaboration generate more effective technologies that help combat climate change. However, this option has the drawback of being too optimistic. Even though the potential gains are substantial, they may be fictional. Notably, the benefits primarily depend on the widespread media coverage in order to attract positive public interest. The benefits of the climate change summit could be no different than those of United Nations (UN). This memo recommends three policies to deal with both the root cause and effects of climate change. The first proposal would be to launch a public education campaign. Ensuring that the public fully understand the impacts of climate change is a significant step in combating climate change. Needless to say, the private and nonprofit organization together with the government of the affected countries in Africa should spearhead a public awareness campaign. This campaign should highlight issues like the importance of minimizing deforestation, potential effects of global warming, and steps that one can take to prepare for such effects, and how to personally reduce gas emissions. In the light of this, studies have shown that citizens are only prepared to support climate change if they feel that it is paramount. This is based on the perceived benefits and cost. For instance, a public awareness campaign that inform citizens of the massive future cost that the country may incur if it fails to combat climate change may increase the need for emission reduction among the citizens. Perhaps, if one imagines about the effects of land inundated with water or large storms surge that put residents at risk, then beyond doubt one can support climate change preventive measures. Thus, efforts should be made to increase vigilance in countries that are more susceptible to climate change disasters in the future. In general, having public preparedness plans may help save countless lives. In addition, the government should coordinate with the local government. Industries are greatest consumers of energy. Cutting the energy needs of these industries can significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide gas emitted in the atmosphere. This gas pollutes the environment and even causes acidic rain. The President should coordinate with the local government in order to have greener cities because very little very little carbon dioxide gas will be emitted to the atmosphere. Also, the president should task an existing agency with risk management responsibilities in climate change. The agency should fall under the Department of Security or Energy. Some of these responsibilities include; sharing of information with the researchers, coordinating resources, recommending policy solutions for future, and storing data on the subject of climate change. The Iterative risk management is a strategy that encompasses repeated process of decision-making, assessment, evaluation, and implementation to combat climate change. Generally, this option pursues multiple ways of mitigating climate changes. To wrap up, climate change is a global challenge, and the problem is more intensely felt in Africa. This is a policy memo, offering foreign policy suggestions to the President Barack Obama. Climate change does not only threaten the economies of many African countries but also that of United States. Human activity is the leading factor towards the warming of the continent. With only 5 percent of the total world’s population, the U.S is responsible for a fifth of the world’s carbon dioxide emission. Two existing policies to combat climate change have been identified. First, there is the creation of multiple agencies to fight and then to then hosting of the climate change summit to discuss effective mitigation measures to combat climate change. Personally, I have fronted three proposals to combat climate change. They include; tasking an existing agency with risk management responsibilities in climate change, coordinating with the local government and launch a public education campaign on the impacts of climate change. Works Cited Metz, Bert. Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change: Contribution of Working Group Iii to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print. Read More