I have been in Senegal for nearly 3 weeks now and going back tomorrow. The big news is that Nelson Mandela is on life support and Barack Obama is visiting Senegal. Just saw him ride by 10 minutes ago waving at us behind the gates at the University. Before coming to Senegal, President Obama laid out his plan for starting to deal with climate change. In Senegal, he will be trying to spur investment for development and new opportunities. In the two situations, he faces considerable challenges in part because the concept of sustainability is so hard to define. In addition climate change and economic development are partners which cannot be separated. Finally the perception of winners versus losers is a thorny situation in both situations.
Lets tackle Senegal first since the president is here. Everyone is very hyped to see President Obama. They people love him and Michelle; President Obama maybe more than their own president. He represents the thing that people need the most: HOPE. The problem is the disconnect between those who have resources and access and those who do not. For example, I met a guy in a shop yesterday who was angry because he could not go to work for 3 days because of the security with president Obama. He said he is too poor not to work and did not understand why he was a suffering. In another case, the main road to the city is closed and the traffic was murder this morning. The taxi driver was extremely angry because he has to be in traffic and use more diesel that he cannot afford. I am sure that he will not see what is really going on and the levels of poverty that really exist. If he could, he would see people cheering for him to give them the hope that they lack. When President Obama drove past us on the Cornish today, we were behind the gates as the police would not let us walk out to the main road to wave at him. I hope that he was aware of the created sense of separation.
This brings me to the issue of investment. You have to know what is happening on the ground if you really want to make a difference. There is a significant wedge in class here in Senegal with those at the bottom having little upward mobility. So he must have smart investments, where there is transparency and accountability otherwise it would amount to exploitation.
Now on to Climate -- Senegal is in a semi-arid environment where rainfall variability is high, and precipitation changes in the future remain unknown. What we do know, is that temperature changes in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans will determine how rainfall changes to a large extent. The real problem is that there is no observing system in Senegal or in much of Africa for the most. We have to build this system now because there are too many vulnerable people not to. Satellites are not the answer as they have their own set of problems.
So last week with the help of the students, we put up the 10 meter tower. I would like to propose developing an observing system with these towers spaced every 100 km apart initially and then 50 km apart in Senegal. Such towers could run for 10-15 years providing the necessary measurements to know how climate change is unfolding in Senegal. We need these towers across all of Sahel and eventually the continent. The goal is to get an observing system in place within 10 years. It will take many stakeholders to make this happen (government, university, NGOs and citizens) but the potential investment is clearly worth it. Because no matter what investment you are planning, climate change also has the potential to unravel it as the dry period in the late 21st century undermined the period following the independence of many countries in West Africa.
Finally this brings me to Mandela. He represents more than hope -- He is the actualization of the human spirit at its very best. He has inspired beyond hope, pain and struggle. While he may be struggling with health a present, his spirit is fully intact and will remain so no matter what.
To bring Senegal and other countries to where they need to be will require sustained efforts that work in the best interest of the people. When President Obama is no longer in office, he needs to continue to come back Senegal to see if what he envisioned is on track. Senegal and Africa need more than one night stands. They need true and equal partnership where class and race are not hidden or ignored.
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