Blair Comm. Answer For Africa - Not Healthcare But More Roads

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According to Tony Blair and the report of the Commission for Africa, what Africa needs most is more roads. More important than healthcare, HIV prevention, security or better governance, road building will jump-start the stalled economy of a continent that has been mired in misery for decades.

The commission's diagnosis is simple. Africa is poor as its economy has not grown. Improving its transport infrastructure would make its goods cheaper, allowing it to break into world markets and trade its way out of poverty. Of the $75bn needed to implement the commission's recommendations, 27% would be spent on infrastructure, mainly for transport, compared with 13% on HIV and Aids, and 10% on education.

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We are now expected to believe that if Africa had a more efficient transport infrastructure it would be able to export more effectively to western countries and expand its economy. Lowering the cost of transport, we are told, would reverse the historical flow of wealth. The African economy would develop along the same lines as the carbon-hungry affluent world, but in a sufficiently sustainable way to save the planet. It is a tall order. The commission warns that climate change is the "one final factor which will obviously be a major influence on Africa's future economic growth". Its weather is becoming more volatile, temperatures are rising, northern and southern latitudes are getting drier, threatening agriculture, and rising sea levels raise the spectre of floods and the loss of low-lying arable land. The commission says developed countries should therefore "help African countries adapt to the risks of climate change".

The only practicable and equitable solution to climate change is the Global Common Institute's framework proposal, Contraction and Convergence. A key element is the trading of carbon- emission rights. Carbon-profligate countries will have to buy unused allocations from more carbon-thrifty ones, such as those in Africa. Tony Blair and the Commission for Africa mistakenly believe that more road building will enable Africa's economy to prosper. However, reducing transport costs will, as the commission acknowledges, greatly increase traffic volumes, thereby worsening climate change. And Africa will experience some of its most severe impacts. Contraction and Convergence changes the direction of policy from aid for road building to payments to the poor of Africa for their unused carbon rations. This process will enable the African economy to develop, but in a uniquely African way. The affluent west can and should repay some of the wealth it has stolen from Africa. Funding for healthcare, HIV prevention, education and security is urgently needed. But Africa does not need the crumbs from the white man's carbon banquet to build more roads."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/story/0,15756,1517876,00.html