WHY CLIMATE CHANGE WILL EVENTUALLY DEFEAT AUSTRALIA

Over the past few months, the world has watched in grief as bushfires have ravaged almost every state in Australia, the worst hit being New South Wales. The damage so far has been devastating to say the least with about 24 persons dead, over 2000 homes destroyed, 7.3 million hectares of land affected and an estimated 1 billion animals killed by the blazing inferno. Support in both human and capital capacities have been pouring in from all over the world, most of which are geared towards fighting the fire. People have sacrificed their time, resources, energy and even their lives to ensure that this epidemic is quenched.

It is no secret that climate change is the underlying cause of the bushfires and the major driver of the climate change in Australia is industrial pollution most of which is from coal mining. Australia is the world's second largest exporter of coal power and has avoided recession since 1991 by exporting coal mainly to her East-Asian neighbors. However, coal is a carbon-rich fuel and its mining will involve pumping large volumes of carbon compounds (carbonmonoxide, carbondioxide and in a lesser amount, methane) into the atmosphere. These compounds are well-known contributors to climate change and Australia can testify to that. The Land Down Under has faced severe drought and consequently wildfires for most part of the 21st century. The issue of climate change in Australia also presents grave ecological concerns as it has already wiped off billions of terrestrial and marine organisms. Australia's Great Barrier Reef (which provide shelter for many marine organisms, provides nitrogen and other essential nutrients for marine food chains and provides $1.5bn annually to the Australian economy from fishing and tourism) has come under serious threat. From 2016 to 2018, half of all coral in the reef died as a result of oceanic heatwaves.

Policy makers both at national and international levels will have to sit down to put an end to coal burning. This is the real war to be fought. A deliberate effort has to be targeted at the cause of the problem not just the effect. Given the huge economic benefits Australia have been reaping from coal, it is naive and unrealistic to think that there can be a rapid abandonment of coal burning. The government has not been able to pass any major climate change policy despite the impending disaster.

Drought and wildfires cannot be solved by wishful thinking or a few hour of rainfall. If the Australian government and other international bodies do not figure out an immediate way to stop coal burning and conserve the environment, this might just be the beginning of a series of climate wars that Australia cannot win.


Edited by Chris Ohuaka