Fourteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Africa is is the most vulnerable continent to climate change in the world. With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the unsustainability of the continent’s economy, there is no better time to rethink our concepts to enable us to respond to these challenges. In this paper, I submit that understanding ‘resilience’ - is key to responding to these global crises. The concept of resilience, however, has not been sufficiently engaged, particularly in climate ethics literature. I evaluate the concept of ‘resilience’ specifically within the current climate adaptive solutions deployed in Africa. I suggest that the current idea of resilience in Africa’s climate adaptation will at best maintain the status quo of ‘climate maladaptation.’ I argue that we must rethink the concept of resilience, specifically in conceiving climate adaptive solutions. In this connection, I propose three understanding of resilience – response, recovery and reimagination - that need further exploration to make climate adaptation yield a long-term sustainable economy for Africa. (1) Resilience requires an empathetic response (ER1). (2) resilience requires that suggested solutions should not be an exercise for exploitative recovery (ER2) and (3) Just when we might have recovered from the shock of climate change, building a resilient future must include an intentional reimagination of our ways of life that are complicated in the problem of climate change (ER3).