IAN, NAIROBI KENYA: TRILATERAL

Environment   Nov 10, 2020 by Ian

Hello,

We had an interesting discussion with Australia and Nigeria (be sure to view their blogs) on climate change and case studies brought up by the countries. We aimed to discover how different countries, people and governments view our case studies. Before we submerge into the topic though,

Why a Bilateral?

In my opinion, having collaborations with countries is one of the sole tools to help us fight climate change. We all face a common problem here and we need to find a common way or idea to stop it. These collaborations well - benefit us as humans. Drawing bridges instead of walls is always the best way to allow us to understand each other.

Differences (in studies/climate change/thought/impact)

1. Kenya and Nigeria spoke more of raising awareness than Australia. This may be due to the higher poverty levels and lower urban population than Australia but it comes to show how different scenarios call for different calls of action.
2. Nigeria's high population made it very ambitious in the ways they would like awareness spread. With a population of over 206 million people (dwarfing Kenya's 53 million and Australia's 25 million) and a growing oil industry, Nigeria brought about innovative ways of spreading the word about climate change from radios to at religious centers and having volunteers go door to door!
3. Australia had a idea's more based on how to move away from coal to renewable energy. They explored the topic broadly and it made me think why some countries may not have as information as that. If fighting climate change was on a scale from 0-1 I would give Australia a 0.6 and Kenya and Nigeria a 0.18. We both do have a long way to go but Australia is more in the social and financial position to support fighting climate change than us. 

Similarities (in studies/climate change/thought/impact)

1. All of our countries have significant numbers of indigenous people. People who are under threat of climate change yet have nearly nothing to do with it. The ideology of climate and energy injustice was  unanimous for us. Some countries and some people have more of a role in fighting climate change in terms with everyone being accountable for their emissions.
2. Forests and Wildlife- All three of our countries have incredible and high biodiversity. Some of which isn't experienced by other countries. This made brought the realization that some countries may not understand or relate to the ideas more so challenges that different countries face such as having to look at the country as whole such as Australia with their forest in the Northwest yet oil drills in the South. We need to look past our nation and think of others, especially when other nations are more capable of providing for more than one.
3. Cultural factors affect all of us. Many traditional communities in all three of our countries as mentioned before have also made it more difficult to fight climate change in some aspects. In Australia (in some area's) the cultural influence of coal on the locals made it harder to agree to transition and across the board in all countries, highly traditional societies don't want to transition to newer forms of renewable energy because people just don't like or are resistant to change and that factor is also relative to different countries.
4. All of our countries have felt noticeable effects of climate change. Again, the forest fires Australia, blistering heat in Nigeria and major flooding here in Kenya.

We had a fun and interesting discussion. Exploring the world from different perspectives is vital and we saw that again during our discussion. Let's continue building bridges to explore our majestic world.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           By: Ian Ngunga

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