Campus Challenge vs. Climate Change

September 10th, 2009 at 3:27 pm

Just as Congress has reconvened, it seems fitting that my first Political Science paper of the semester was on the relationship between climate change and poverty in developing countries. I have learned in the last few days that the drought and agricultural problems I and my fellow OCC Africa Trip students heard about in Kenya are not only worse than we thought they were; they also aren’t going to get better any time soon.

This March, Purdue University published a study by Noah Diffenbaugh, Thomas Hertel and Syud Amer Ahmed showing how climate change could increase poverty in developing countries. While the study focuses on urban workers, the basic premise can be used with just about any demographic: people living in poverty are going to be hardest hit by climate change if we don’t take action soon.

Diffenbaugh told the Purdue Communication and Marketing specialist, Elizabeth Gardner, that “extreme weather affects agricultural productivity and can raise the price of staple foods, such as grains, that are important to poor households in developing countries.” He also pointed out that “it is important to understand which socioeconomic groups and countries could see changes in poverty rates in order to make informed policy decisions.”

When our OCC group was in Kenya, we spent some time with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), and one of the things I remember most is that Kenya has a huge agricultural market, but they are coming up against major obstacles — one of which happens to be the weather they are experiencing. Agricultural market or not, Kenyans can’t sell their products anywhere if they can’t even grow them.

While Kenya is going to be the country I reference most for a long time, it isn’t the only country running into these problems. Africans are only going to invest in seeds they know will grow in their area, but if the weather is poor all over the place, can they really know what will grow best?

Heat waves, droughts and floods cause agricultural problems and crop damages around the world, but most people in developed countries such as the United States and countries in the European Union are going to be at less of a loss if their crops can’t grow or are damaged because of the weather. In the fight against poverty, the promotion of better agricultural practices has to start somewhere, and it might as well start at the bottom — where the countries most in need exist.

5% of this year’s Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act devoted to helping poor countries adapt to climate change could begin to make that difference. If we can begin to make a difference, then countries like Kenya that want to be agriculturally strong, and have the potential, can begin to take the next step.

Tell your senator to invest in helping the world’s poorest people overcome the threats posed by climate change here. Your school automatically gets 500 points in the ONE Campus Challenge when you sign any ONE online petition.

-Melissa Boles
Campus Outreach Ambassador for CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA