Global Environmental Diplomacy and Climate Change Negotiations: Implications for Africa's Economies

Abstract

After more than a decade, the pledge of US$100 billion by rich countries to poor countries for climate mitigation and adaptation measures since 2010 failed to materialize. The recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report 2023 emphasized the need to raise ambition to reduce human-induced carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, muster the political will and provide the necessary finance. The United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) is continuously tilting towards an annual ritual with high expectations for climate finance from developed to developing countries. The lack of finance is hindering climate actions on
mitigation and adaptation measures at national levels. The near absence of accountability by the rich or industrialized countries is eroding trust and solidarity. There is dearth of critical studies on the nature of the outcomes and how nations relate under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in the climate change negotiations. Broadly, this paper explores the
concept of environmental diplomacy to provide an in-depth study on the Earth Summit process and negotiations. It implicates the geopolitics of energy production and consumption and national socio-political realities as major reasons for the outcomes. By deploying a political ecology perspective of conflicts and contestations amongst social actors in the policy arena and as they compete for resources, it unravels the underlying factors driving participation, negotiations and outcomes. The paper contributes to knowledge on the role of science in Power Politics, rooted in the skewed imbalance of power relations between the rich and poor countries, and how superiority over the global South, very little can be achieved in terms of fairness and equity. The imprints of power imbalance in the COP process result in winners and losers, and have serious implications for the national economies, particularly in Nigeria and developing countries.