Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: development policy, agency and Africa in the post-2015 development agenda
- one The post-2015 development agenda: Building a global convergence on policy options
- two Debating post-2015 development-oriented reforms in Africa: agendas for action
- three Public diplomacy for developmental states: implementing the African Mining Vision
- four The role of gender in development: where do boys count?
- five Service-oriented government: the developmental state and service delivery in Africa after 2015 – are capacity indicators important?
- six Employment creation for youth in Africa: the role of extractive industries
- seven Financing the post-2015 development agenda: domestic revenue mobilisation in Africa
- eight Economic performance and social progress in Sub-Saharan Africa: the effect of least developed countries and fragile states
- nine From regional integration to regionalism in Africa: building capacities for the post-Millennium Development Goals agenda
- ten Reforming the Development Banks’ Country Policy and Institutional Assessment as an aid allocation tool: the case for country self-assessment
- eleven Development and sustainability in a warming world: measuring the impacts of climate change in Africa
- twelve African development through peace and security to sustainability
- thirteen African development, political economy and the road to Agenda 2063
- Notes
- Index
eleven - Development and sustainability in a warming world: measuring the impacts of climate change in Africa
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 March 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: development policy, agency and Africa in the post-2015 development agenda
- one The post-2015 development agenda: Building a global convergence on policy options
- two Debating post-2015 development-oriented reforms in Africa: agendas for action
- three Public diplomacy for developmental states: implementing the African Mining Vision
- four The role of gender in development: where do boys count?
- five Service-oriented government: the developmental state and service delivery in Africa after 2015 – are capacity indicators important?
- six Employment creation for youth in Africa: the role of extractive industries
- seven Financing the post-2015 development agenda: domestic revenue mobilisation in Africa
- eight Economic performance and social progress in Sub-Saharan Africa: the effect of least developed countries and fragile states
- nine From regional integration to regionalism in Africa: building capacities for the post-Millennium Development Goals agenda
- ten Reforming the Development Banks’ Country Policy and Institutional Assessment as an aid allocation tool: the case for country self-assessment
- eleven Development and sustainability in a warming world: measuring the impacts of climate change in Africa
- twelve African development through peace and security to sustainability
- thirteen African development, political economy and the road to Agenda 2063
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Introduction
In their current manifestation, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are presented as a blueprint to galvanise governments and private actors towards a substantial reduction in extreme poverty levels by 2015 (Sachs et al, 2009, p 1502). While the links between poverty and climate change are unsurprisingly complex, academic research and discourse finds itself approaching these two themes not as interconnected subjects, but rather as variably distinct entities. Cohen et al (1998) argue that even though climate is one symptom of unsustainable development, the two concepts continue to coexist under separate epistemologies, to the extent that climate change has not readily been identified as strongly influencing sustainable development discourse.
Indeed, as emphasised by published data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and the European Environmental Agency (EEA), development rarely features in the discussion of indicators for the measurement of climate change and environmental degradation (NASA, 2012; NCDC, 2012; EEA, 2012), despite observations that its impacts fall disproportionately on developing countries and the poor (McMichael and Butler, 2004). Yet it is increasingly rehearsed in the climate change research that in this interface of climate and development, climate policy goals continue to be missed as a priority for many developing countries, as other issues such as poverty alleviation and energy security remain centre stage on the development agenda (Halnaes and Garg, 2011).
In addition, one main observation is that those most deeply affected by changes in global environmental trends seem less to be the beneficiaries of concentrated efforts towards positive progression but rather appear resigned to be left out in the cold. Sachs et al, however, note that by targeting the root causes of development stagnation and regression, particularly embodied by climate change, the international community may achieve complementary positive results in both sectors (Sachs et al, 2009, p 1502). To do so requires issues of climate change being understood and filtered through the empirical lens of sustainable development priorities, which would support the clarification and simplification of related policy avenues.
This chapter follows several avenues of inquiry as a means of unifying research on development issues and related climate change, thereby presenting a critical base on which future study and international action can be undertaken.
- Type
- Chapter
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- Development in AfricaRefocusing the Lens after the Millennium Development Goals, pp. 315 - 344Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2015