The World is on Fire and the Billionaires are Fuelling it: Oxfam Report

COP29 is currently underway in Baku, Azerbaijan amidst increasing concerns to avert a looming climate catastrophe that has been mainly generated by the Western world. Africa as a whole has contributed less than five percent of carbon emissions but is disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of climate change.

African countries such as Mozambique, South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Chad and many others have been significantly impacted pushing more citizens below the poverty line. Even in Northern Ghana, excessive drought caused by climate change has led to a significant reduction in crop yields in that region which is a food basket of the country. Coastal towns such as Keta in the Volta region also had their share of the devastating effects of climate change.

So far majority of the past pledges made by the main culprits of this climate crisis i.e. developed countries in order to ensure climate justice have not been honoured while also reneging on the pledge to work towards significantly cutting back on emissions for a healthier world.

The atmosphere at the COP29 in Baku has been clouded, made heavier by the results of the US elections with the incoming president's stand on climate change and also keen on exiting the Paris Climate Agreement when he assumes office.

The latest Oxfam report has painted a shocking picture of the current state of affairs about the one percent as well. It found that the average billionaire’s carbon emissions in over an hour through private jets and yachts surpass that of the average person in a lifetime. Oxfam International Executive Director Amitabh Behar said: “The super-rich are treating our planet like their personal playground, setting it ablaze for pleasure and profit. Their dirty investments and luxury toys —private jets and yachts— aren’t just symbols of excess; they’re a direct threat to people and the planet,”

It is interesting to note that this same super-rich invest in extractive industries profiting off the unfair system. Is it not alarming that in a year the average billionaire’s carbon emissions are higher than that of an average African country?

Some experts warn they have developed a great appetite for space with an escape-hatch mentality. It is quite hypocritical for these same billionaires who are the very ones benefitting from the destruction of the world to claim they are saving our world by prospecting for life in space when they are the ones making Earth uninhabitable. Would it not be more reasonable to take appropriate measures to preserve and save our world? Chattel slavery, racism, extreme capitalism, and climate change are all linked. In fact, one can say racial hate which is a product of chattel slavery has actually led to hate for humanity itself, it is so because these have always been inseparable. By that I mean race and humanity, you cannot choose one and despise the other, we are all connected and we are all humanity.

No one has more rights to this world than the other. We as humans are all custodians of this world and it is our responsibility to protect it for this generation and the coming generations. It is high time these individuals are checked if not the world will pay a heavy price.