Climate finance and climate justice

Sir,

Climate change is the talk of town, we all know that. The actual question is how many of us genuinely care? Does this so called climate change mean we won’t fall asleep when it gets dark? Or will it kill us in 24 hours like Master 900? The answer is no and that is why we allow it to happen as long as our pockets get filled and we play the good Samaritan to those mostly affected.

If you are familiar with both terms it’s easy to tell that one has defined them already. Climate justice refers to how climate change affects different groups in society with regards to age, gender, sexual orientation and economic status. Climate finance on the other hand is the new term in the dictionary meaning coming up with a way of making economic decisions that are sustainable to the environment. I really wonder if climate finance and justice are enemies or friends but to know that stay tuned.

Growing up in the lowveld gave me a taste of the real life. Waking up at wee hours to blazing heat and sleeping later under the same circumstances. There were days when you would pray the whole house turns into a cold room. Days when you wish you could put the three legged pot underground to preserve your porridge for the next day. It was not only the unbearable heat that made my stomach growl but a deep sense of hopelessness. Even the vegetation outside sang the same hymnal plea for rain or a storm but neither would come.

Drought

Drought and water scarcity affect growth in a community. A young man from across the street, a herdsman with barely enough money to sustain himself tried to build a home. Logs and soil are the best resource available but water becomes a larger problem to locate. As a result a one room house can be shelter to over ten people. The whole neighbourhood murmurs, ‘‘how do they sleep in one small house?’’ In my house we sleep till date. In a small house there is no privacy and it is okay. There is obviously no silence for the studying learner or room for the toddlers to crawl. The walls are not thick enough for the arguments and fights of the parents to not fall on the children’s ears.

Blurry

Where in this blurry picture does climate justice and finance surface? Now we have already identified the people affected which in this scenario are low income earners, students and young children and adults. What happens next is that a few people from the named groups make it to newspaper headlines and every reader cannot help but sympathise.

The good Samaritans then flock in and help that person with the paparazzi taking the best snaps. A handshake follows and this is called making an impact. Better yet, people and systems with the ability to donate food hampers to underprivileged people for two months then leave them to be.

This leads to division in communities whereby some groups will support systems that pretend to help them while those who weren’t featured on the Magazine ‘Most needy’ will pull on the other side. People do not realise how such things create segregation in communities. A divided community is blind and it paves way for exploitation.

When elephants fight the grass suffers.

It goes without saying that a lot of companies including those producing GMOs, coal energy, fast fashion and many more continue to benefit from the climate crisis. The people who stand to lose are the poor and their youth and generations to come. Systems to maintain their poverty will continue to come decked up as help by the same people who are the perpetrators.

Honesty

Right now the world is rolling. Rolling stones gather no moss instead what the people need is honesty and collaboration. It is up to the business tycoons who have disguised in climate finance approaches to rethink climate justice and execute it. It is up to them to implement ideas that will be sustainable. It is up to each person out there to not allow them to be accountable and responsible. People need to acknowledge that money alone won’t fix climate change problems. Money is after all printed paper and minted coins yet life is far more precious and a person can live only once. Let each breath on earth not be wasted by climate change.

‘Only when the last fish has been caught, the last river has dried up or the last tree has been cut will men realise we cannot eat money’ keep that complex sentence in mind.

Luanda Mndzebele

Sir,

There is an ancient saying that goes: ‘Sometimes a second chance works out even better than the first chance because you have learnt from your mistakes.’

African-American actress Tia Mowry once said: ‘‘Having a second chance makes you want to work even harder.’’

This quote crossed my mind when I saw the photos of inmates using their skills to refurbish a house of one of the victims of gender-based violence in South Africa. The initiative was an arrangement between a mayor, himself a former convict, and the department of Correctional Services who agreed to have inmates contribute effectively to society as part of their rehabilitation.

I think this should be extended to other areas as it allows inmates to exhibit their skills and help build the country, free of charge. Our Correctional facilities are not traditional jails aimed at punishing people for their crimes but rather institutions to help rehabilitate them.

Inmates

Most of these inmates are not proud of their crimes, that is why when they get to prison, they try to change their evil ways and become better members of society. Seeing offenders honing skills that they will use to sustain themselves is pleasing to the eye as it means crime will decline. On this note, let me also point out that if people are released because it is believed they have been rehabilitated and can be reintegrated into society, having them on the criminal record list does little to help them.

If someone gets out of jail a qualified lawyer, teacher or with another qualification and they do not get work due to the criminal record, then it means the rehabilitation programmes were a waste of time if they can’t help empower ex-convicts. A second chance, as the quote above says, has a way to inspire people to work even harder. Ex-convicts deserve that too, to show they can fix their past errors by working diligently to make society a better place.

Malphia Honwane