Climate change: Teachers, chiefs our hope
The ongoing debate about climate change, disappearing forests, increased carbon levels and lack of food is something that should worry everyone. But what should worry us more is what we have allowed to be done and by whom. We have allowed the political class to take the lead and because informed or otherwise he/she will always offer a “solution”, we are being treated to all manner of absurdity. Who said GMOs are the solution to our food insecurity challenge? These modifications are a temporary relief for a very nagging problem. First, GMOs will not grow where there is no rainfall. We’ll need to keep adjusting and modifying them until we leave this world. GMO is not manna; it won’t fall from heaven. It’ll have to be cultivated and will need all the necessary conditions for the growth of a plant. So, before we legislate on GMOs, shouldn’t we first talk about climate change and how to mitigate or adapt to it? Our international partners have appreciated the fact that the world is not safe if any part of the universe is not. And this is why the Third World is being persuaded to turn to green energy, including non-coal sources, for its industries and try to conserve the environment. I’m glad that the government has a mind of planting 15 billion trees in the next decade. But there should be policy guidelines on how to nurture the new and existing trees. It does not make sense to plant a billion trees and harvest them all without replacing them. Power saws and timber harvesting must be regulated, for any tree that’s fallen, there must be a formula for its replacement. Our teachers in all the public learning institutions are custodians of thousands of hectares of land. Complemented by the chiefs, they are the easiest and fastest way to reafforesting our lands. There is an adequate human resource in these institutions that only need to be motivated to plant and care for trees. They are the sure bet that the money allocated to the tree planting programme will not be stolen and that trees will not be left to dry. If we could empower teachers and chiefs by providing all the necessary support in terms of seedlings, water and fertiliser and also labour and expertise, it’ll take us a very short time to meet our goals. In fact, by the time we’ll be going for the 2027 General Election, we’ll not be talking about GMOs but rather where to export our surplus food. Deforestation is responsible for climate change, which leads to drought and hunger, which has become a way of life. GMOs are a lazy man’s response to climate change. The ignorant think when the stomach is full we ought not to care about tomorrow.