Botswana unprepared to adapt

Arnold Lethsolo in Mgegi Online (Botswana): Soon after South Africa made history by hosting the FIFA World Cup 2010, it is preparing to host another world event in Durban. That is, the Conferences of the Parties (COP) - specifically, COP17 - to assess progress in dealing with climate change. This will be the 17th conference of the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Climate change affects everyone every day as it is a life-threatening situation as indicated by weather variability and frequent eruption of tempests that hit our towns and villages. Yet, though the COP is less than six months away, information about it in Botswana is abysmally lacking.

Politicians, private companies, the media as well as the civil society in other countries are busy bracing themselves for this big event scheduled for November 28 - December 9, 2011. It is a different case though for Botswana. According to Valentine Dube, the Coordinator of Youth and Environment Association (YEA), only their organisation and the Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS) are part of the Botswana delegation that attended the April/May positioning workshop for COP 17 at Beechwood in Johannesburg. He said, they discussed strategies to use as Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.

Dube opines that the civil society in Botswana, especially the Environment and Agriculture Sector, does not give environment and climate change the attention it deserves. "It is because of this silence that Botswana is lagging behind in acquiring the needed funding from the first world countries to help developing countries adapt to climate change...