Afro-optimism reaches the USA
Of all the Africa
summits that have taken place so far around the world in 2014 none had the
potential to change the game in Africa than the one held in Washington from 4-6
August. After a decade of bilateral Africa summits (China-Africa, India-Africa,
Japan-Africa, EU-Africa, Turkey-Africa to name a few) the US-Africa Summit in
Washington which hosted nearly 50 African heads of state was the first of its
kind and therefore held the promise of delivering something new.
There were many
reasons for optimism in the summit. Despite upheavals caused by the financial
crisis, the US more than any other nation still possesses a unique combination
of power, influence, innovation, dynamism, technological advancement, financial
muscle and a youthful population that if correctly harnessed could bring about
lasting improvements in Africa. President Obama is also America’s first leader
who is half African and a leader who came to the White House promising to “green”
the planet. Such an opportunity for both sides may not be repeated for a while.
“I do not see the
countries and peoples of Africa as a world apart,” President
Obama told the largest gathering of African leaders ever held in Washington. “I see Africa as a fundamental part of
our interconnected world – partners with America on behalf of the future we
want for all of our children. That partnership must be grounded in mutual
responsibility and mutual respect.”
US vice-president JoeBiden called Africa the “continent of limitless promise”. Secretary of state
John Kerry spoke of the summit as potentially world changing. “If everybody
gets this right, this meeting and this moment and the days ahead of us can literally
become a pivotal defining moment for our future history and for the world,” he
said.
The Financial
Times coverage of this “pivotal” event was probably the most wide-ranging of
any newspaper. Between 31 July and 10 August the FT and its on-line publications,
Beyond Brics, World Blog and This is Africa gave an in-depth view of the
US-Africa relationship including “catching up” with China, “feting strongmen”
and a “new American strategy” by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Yet there was no
indication in the summit, and hence in the FT’s reporting, which guarantees the
United States will do anything fundamentally different in Africa from those who
have gone before, even though the right intentions are there. “We
don’t look to Africa simply for its natural resources,” President Obama tried
to assure African leaders. “We recognise Africa for its greatest resource which
is its people and its talents and its potential. We don’t simply want to
extract minerals from the ground for our growth. We want to build partnerships
that create jobs and opportunity for all our peoples, that unleash the next era
of African growth.”
Surprising omissions
These are fine intentions indeed, but what was missing in
President Obama’s speeches, in the contents of the summit and in the FT’s
reporting was any suggestion that to “unleash the next era of African growth” the
type of growth itself and the way it is measured will need to be significantly
reformed to cope with the immense challenges Africa faces in the coming decades. Even though the summit program included "Promoting inclusive, sustainable development" and "Resilience and Food Security in a Changing Climate" nothing was said or written that fundamentally changes the structure
of the current flawed system introduced to Africa only 50 years ago that would enable this to happen. There was nothing that suggests
that business-as-usual, or the unsustainable and irresponsible “brown” economy
with its short-term perspectives, will not continue to dominate the continent.
What was equally surprising was that of the 50 African
countries represented at the summit only 25 made official national statements and of
those not one mentioned the green economy. Only Djibouti and Namibia used the
word green in their statements: “green power” and “green fund” (Djibouti);
“green scheme program” and “green scheme projects” (Namibia). Only a handful of
African statements called on the US to support sustainable development and only
one, Seychelles, mentioned the Sustainable Development Goals that are due to
replace the MDGs in 2015. Not one mentioned the need for low carbon growth.
These omissions are particularly striking as sustainable
development through a green economy was central to Africa’s Consensus Statement
to the Rio+20 “Earth Summit” in 2012 *, and many leading Africans including
Donald Kaberuka, president of the African Development Bank who was at the
summit, have stressed that green growth is critical to Africa’s future.
Most surprising of all was the fact that Ethiopia, one of America’s
closest and most important allies in Africa, did not even issue a statement let
alone call on the US to help Africans build an inclusive and sustainable green
economy. This is despite the fact that
Ethiopia’s late prime minister, Meles Zenawi, before his untimely death in 2012
had become the green voice of Africa ** and more than any other African leader
had seen the need for green growth. His brainchild, Ethiopia’s Climate Resilient Green Economy strategy, was the first of its kind in the world and is
something the US is well qualified to help develop.
For these reasons
I wrote the following letter to the Financial Times:
Sir,
This week, both US President Barack Obama and Nobel
prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz missed a historic opportunity to embark
on a new journey in Africa.
At President Obama’s “US-Africa Summit 2014”
(In Depth, July 31- August 6) and in Professor Stiglitz’s “A new
American strategy for business in Africa” (Comment,
August 3) both men demonstrate quite clearly how far the US has progressed in
its understanding of the world’s most misunderstood continent and the attitude
needed to forge a US-Africa partnership which, in President Obama’s words, is
“grounded in mutual responsibility and mutual respect.” But both men fail to
mention any sort of fundamental systemic restructuring required to make this
happen and to prevent business-as-usual from continuing to dominate the
continent.
This omission is particularly striking as just over 5
years ago, in the depths of the financial crisis, both men were cheerleaders
for the boldest and most adventurous restructuring yet of our flawed system.
Both men repeatedly called for a “Green New Deal” which would lead to a “Green
Recovery” and nurture a sustainable “Global Green Economy”. On March 2, 2009 “Obama’s
chance to lead the green recovery” by Professor Stiglitz and climate change economist Nicholas Stern was just
one of many bold articles and reports on the subject published in the FT.
Thanks to the ensuing global green stimulus by the G20, the green economy today
is growing at between 2 and 4 times faster than the global “brown” economy.
With the next crisis never far away, with Africa still by
far the most vulnerable continent and with the need for sustainable growth
more urgent than ever, President Obama and Professor Stiglitz have
unfortunately failed to recognise that Africa, as the least developed region on
the planet, has the most potential and would be the easiest place for the type
of systemic restructuring they called for in 2009.
Africans need some sort of Green New Deal with the US (and
the rest of the world), not to rescue them from crisis but to ensure that their
long-awaited rise is as smooth as possible and that their countries do not
become the last frontier for business-as-usual, or the brown economy, but the
first frontier for the green.
Mr Obama has just over two years left of his presidency to
leave a historic legacy. More than any
other world leader he is in a position to help Africans on their journey
towards a sustainable green economy that would eventually benefit us all.
End of letter. ***
The only letter on
the US-Africa summit published in the FT was not from one of Africa’s or
America’s many “green voices” calling for a new approach to Africa, but from an
American CEO of an oil and energy company.
In his optimistic letter
“It is not too late to invest in Africa” (Aug 13) Raheem J
Brennerman tempts fellow American oil and gas executives with some tasty statistics:
“…proven oil reserves are estimated to reach 127bn barrels, with
at least another 100bn barrels located offshore. For natural gas, proven
reserves are thought to be roughly 606tn cubic feet, with significant upward
potential existing for both.”
Disappointed that the only response to the FT’s reports on
the US-Africa relationship was from an executive from the king of the brown
economy – oil – I wrote another letter to the FT:
Sir,
It is probably safe to say that no international newspaper
covered the recent US-Africa Summit more thoroughly than the Financial Times.
But despite such comprehensive coverage of what US Secretary of State John
Kerry called a “pivotal moment in history” it was surprising and rather
disappointing there was not a single letter from an African published in the FT
to give us an idea what Africans think about such a moment.
The only letter so far published on the summit (unless I’m
mistaken) was by Raheem J Brennerman, Chairman and CEO of an American oil and
energy company - “It is not
too late to invest in Africa” (August 13).
If, as this sole letter implies, America’s investments in Africa will be led by
the oil and gas industries, Mr Brennerman and his fellow CEOs had better be
careful not to repeat the actions of the past and perpetuate business-as-usual
that has dominated and held Africa back for so long.
If, for instance, as you report on August 5, the US tries to “catch up" with
China (which is expanding business-as-usual across the continent at an alarming rate), or
"links up" with China on
building massive infrastructure projects, including mega dams, the world’s most
powerful, innovative and dynamic nation will be taking Africa on a huge step
back to the 20th century.
Mr Brennerman says the right things: “by working closely
with local partners…and by making investments in local businesses, we are
helping to provide education, develop skills and build prosperity in the
communities in which we serve.”
However, much more is needed for Africa to continue its
rise in the face of mounting challenges, many of which are being reported in
the FT. More than anything, Africa needs a systematic overhaul of an outdated
development model to address the externalities, or hidden costs, which are
increasing almost by the day. Africa needs nothing short of a green revolution,
not just in agriculture as is often misleadingly thought, but in every sector,
especially in the great “brown” industry of oil which has given the world so
much but has also caused and is causing so much harm.
Mr Brennerman and America's new generation of oil and gas
executives have a historic challenge and opportunity to help Africans use their
greatest non-renewable resources to build a renewable green economy. If they
succeed they could prove Mr Kerry correct.
Africa’s green voices were silent at the recent Washington
summit as they are in most of this year’s record number of summits on Africa.
They urgently need to speak out. Letters to the Editor of the FT would be a
good place to start.
End of letter
How the US
can change the game in Africa
If President Obama and his team want to make a difference
in Africa, for America’s “future history and for the world,” they
should encourage their industry captains, beginning with oil and gas, to forge
a new path in the world’s most challenging and least known continent. The first
thing they must do is sign up for and adhere to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), “a global coalition of governments,
companies and civil society working together to improve openness and
accountable management of revenues from natural resources.” Without this
business-as-usual, with all its hidden costs, will continue to thrive.
But this is only a start. To deal with the daunting
challenges facing Africa in the 21st century including climate
change, water stress, ecological degradation, biodiversity loss, resource
depletion, unemployment, inequality, hunger, insecurity and infectious diseases
on a continent whose population is expected to double over the next 30 years,
Africans and their American partners urgently need to address three specific
issues.
Beyond GDP
First, they must look beyond gross domestic product as a
measure of economic growth. Although African economies over the past 12 years
have enjoyed continued growth in GDP the statistics tell us nothing about
sustainability and certainly less about green growth. Of all American
economists Professor Stiglitz is perhaps best qualified to begin measuring
Africa’s growth in new ways as he was co-author of a 300-page ground-breaking report
commissioned in 2008 by then French president Nicholas Sarkozy called “The
Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.”
Summing up this work completed in 2009 Professor Stiglitz urged world leaders
to “end the fetish with GDP.”
Greening Education
As President Obama
insists that Africa’s people are its greatest resource this is the moment to work
out ways to put that resource to best use. Education, everyone says, is the
key, but the type of education needed must be designed to prepare Africa’s
youth for the challenges of the 21st century. Not everyone agrees
that the current education system is appropriate for Africa’s cultures and
conditions, one of the most extreme being the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Harum
whose name is loosely, some think inaccurately, defined as “Western, or non-Islamic,
education is forbidden or sinful.” Whatever the meaning it is clear that
educating young Africans (and adults) in “green schools” to understand the value of their
cultures, the importance of the environment and the need to live and work and
grow with the lightest of footprints is essential if the continent is to
support 2 billion people in 30 years’ time.
Green Growth plans
During Africa’s socialist
experiments of the post-colonial era many countries adopted the Soviet/Chinese
model of developing 5-year economic growth plans. This is still a valid system
but what is needed to ensure sustainability are 5-year plans that promote green
growth. Here, the American system with
its short-term perspectives is less qualified to help, but by joining forces
with say China and India, Africa’s major Asian partners whose own 5-year plans
are becoming increasingly green, a win-win-win could be achieved. It would be a
win for the three economic giants to cooperate on green growth plans in Africa
instead of competing over the continent’s dwindling resources. It would be a
win for Africa to have three major powers using their technologies, know-how
and finance to accelerate green growth across the continent. And it would be a
win for the rest of the world as we would all learn how to live on this planet
with finite resources.
President Obama
has called 2014 the “Year of Action.” With only 3 months left can we expect
some “Green Action” in Africa or will the “pivotal defining moment” be lost?
* Item
24 of Africa’s Consensus Statement to Rio+20, calls on the international
community “to put an international investment strategy into place to facilitate
the transition towards a green economy.”
*** For published
letters to the FT on Africa and the green economy including “Obama’s chance to
foster green Africa” click here and follow the link. This letter can also be found in
a blog post - click here.
