Call for Papers, Volume 4: Climate Justice and Resource Extractivism,15 February 2024

The Namibian Journal of Social Justice hereby invites authors to contribute scholarly articles, case studies, photo essays, opinion pieces, book reviews and creative discourses on Climate Justice and Resource Extractivism.

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Scientists generally concur that humanity has entered a new epoch in the geological time scale, namely, the epoch of the Anthropocene. This is when human activity has the greatest impact on the earth’s surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere (Finney and Edwards, 2016). The dominant economic model with its fossil fuel dependent system of production and insatiable consumption is at the core of our climate crisis.

Namibia is net carbon sink for it absorbs more greenhouse gases (GHG) than what it emits. The country produces only 0.01% of global GHG emissions and is therefore ranked 137th in the list of countries with the largest percentage of GHG emissions (Sherbourne, 2022). Despite the small contribution to GHG emissions Namibians are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and the global climate crisis. It is this disproportionality that places inequality at the centre of the climate crisis. The wealthy and highly industrialised countries mainly from the global north are the biggest contributors towards climate change with their high levels of fossil fuel consumption and therefore high levels of carbon emissions. Yet, it is the countries of the global south that contribute far less to carbon emission that are most adversely affected by climate change. Climate Justice confronts the inequalities in which the causes and effects of climate change are unequally distributed around the world (Volo Foundation, 2023).

In Namibia climate change causes frequent extreme weather events that particularly affects the water-energy-food nexus (World Food Programme, 2021). In the livestock sector, recurrent droughts result in diseases and pests, insufficient grazing, lower market prices for livestock and an additional financial burden of purchasing animal feed (Ngaruka, 2019). The dryland subsistence farmers are also extremely vulnerable. Women constitute the majority in this sector because they are primarily responsible for crop production in the household food production system (GIZ, undated). Climate change related disruptions in the water-food-energy nexus negatively affect particularly women’s livelihoods, care work, health and migration (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2020).

As a result of climate change, many Namibians have experienced lower crop yields and increased risks of crop failure; reduced livestock production; decline in fish stocks, catch and production; reduced water availability and lower water quality which will have negative effects on food security (and food sovereignty); health and sanitation. There are more frequent occurrences of water- and vector-borne diseases; loss of biodiversity; loss of soil fertility and increased soil erosion and rising sea levels and declining fish stocks. All these contribute towards stress migration that places pressure on facilities and services in urban centres (Republic of Namibia, 2015).

Resource Extractivism

Namibia’s has not been able to resolve the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality. This forces us to repeatedly return to the fundamental nature of our economy which is characterised by resource extractivism. Namibia has to confront its “paradox of plenty”. This paradox propels the underdevelopment that gives rise to the triple crisis. Large amounts of raw materials are extracted (often through environmentally damaging ways) with few local benefits (Acosta, 2013). Until we confront and resolve the questions of primary commodity export dependency with few benefits to the vast majority of the Namibian population, the triple challenge will remain.

There is a close connection between environmental destruction and resource extractivism. It causes air, water and land pollution as it expels toxic waste. It is responsible for half of the world’s carbon emissions, and 20% of the world’s biodiversity loss. It threatens the health and livelihoods of local communities and is often associated with human rights abuses (United Nations Environmental Programme, undated).
With it’s abundant solar and wind potential, Namibia has been identified as a potential green hydrogen hub. While the Namibian government has hailed this as a source of foreign direct investment and job creation, there are energy, water and climate justice issues that remain unanswered. There are fears that the global search for “green energy” may be another form of resource extactivism and may increase if issues of redistributive justice, environmental justice, energy justice and water justice are not addressed (Müller, Tunn and Kalt, 2022)

References

Acosta, A. (2013) Extractivism and Neoextractivism: Two sides of the same curse. https://www.tni.org/files/download/beyonddevelopment_extractivism.pdf/

GIZ (undated) Adaptation of Agriculture to Climate Change 2015-2018. Retrieved from https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/34175.html

Republic of Namibia (2015) Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) of The Republic of Namibia to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/nam188587.pdf

Müller, F.; Tunn, J. and Kalt, T. (2022) Hydrogen Justice. Environmental Research Letters, Volume 17, Number 11.

Ngaruka, E. (2019) Climate Manifestation into Drought. Retrieved from https://reliefweb.int/report/namibia/climate-change-manifestation-drought.

Sherbourne, R. (2022) Namibia’s Green Transition: A Summary of the Issues. https://ippr.org.na/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Namibias-Green-Transition-web.pdf.

Finney, S. and Edwards, L. (2016) The “Anthropocene” epoch: Scientific decision or political statement? https://rock.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/26/3/pdf/i1052-5173-26-3-4.pdf.

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (2020) Gender Equality in Climate Change: Analysis report on Gender in Climate Change Policies, Programs and NDC Processes. Retrieved from https://archive.uneca.org/sites/default/files/uploaded- documents/ACPC/2020/gender_analysis_of_climate_change_in_africa.pdf.

United Nations Environmental Programme (undated) Why does Extractives Matter? https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/extractives/why-does-extractives-matter.

Volo Foundation (2023) What is Climate Justice? https://volofoundation.org/news/what-is-climatejustice/#:~:text=The%20University%20of%20California%20Center,and%20Climate%20 Education%20and%20Engagement.

World Bank (2019) Development of a SADC Gender-responsive Disaster Risk Reduction Strategic Plan and Plan of Action 2018-2030: SADC Gender Analysis and Stakeholder Consultation Report Deliverable 3. https://drmims.sadc.int/sites/default/files/document/2020-03/SADC%20Gender%20Analysis%20and%20Stakeholder%20Consultation%20Report_Formatted.pdf.

World Food Programme (2021) Climate Change in Southern Africa: A position Paper for the World Food Programme in the region. https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000129074/download/

Deadline for Abstract: 15 February 2024

Please submit to: njsjnam@gmail.com

Submission guidelines: All submission guidelines can be found on Guidelines