COP29 - climate loss and damage, and historical injustice

We cannot talk about climate loss and damage without reflecting the damage of the past - and that means acknowledging the impact of slavery, the industrial revolution and colonialism, writes Israel Olofinjana  

As world leaders gather in Baku Azerbaijan for the COP 29 climate conference, I have been reflecting on a theme faith leaders in Britain are raising awareness about: the Make Polluters Pay! campaign.

What does Make Polluters pay mean, and what is a Christian contribution to such a debate?

Make Polluters Pay is attempting to address the disproportional impact of the climate crisis on the Majority World, part of the larger framework of climate loss and damage that considers funding for developing nations strongly impacted by climate change, yet who have contributed little to it. It advocates that the West, which is seen as causing much of the trouble, gives grants to poorer nations affected. 

This discussion has been at the heart of previous climate conferences - and it will no doubt be discussed this time.

But any action on climate loss and damage must be aware of the root causes of the issues, and for that we need to take into account the connections between the industrial revolution, colonialism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. 

We  must start from understanding the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a global economic system which prospered because of racial ideology. This was because African’s humanity was conceived as objects and properties that needed to be dominated. They were seen as inferior and not intelligent. Sometimes the Christian mission, with an understanding that Africans were heathens and pagans who needed saving, colluded with colonial authorities in this slave trade.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was also an integral part of the industrial revolution from the 1750 onwards. One of the first scholars to identify the links between racism and capitalism was Eric Williams (1911-1981), the first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Williams uncovered slavery’s role at the heart of the industrial revolution. He states in his book Capitalism and Slavery, his published doctoral thesis:

The triangular trade thereby gave a triple stimulus to British industry.

The Enslaved were purchased with British manufacturers; transported to the plantations; they produced sugar, cotton, indigo, molasses and other tropical products, the processing of which created new industries in England; while the maintenance of the Negroes and their owners on the plantations provided another market for British industry, New England agriculture and the Newfoundland fisheries.

By 1750 there was hardly a trading or a manufacturing town in England which was not in some way connected with the triangular or direct colonial trade. The profits obtained provided one of the mainstreams of that accumulation of capital in England which financed the Industrial Revolution.[1]

While many western historians would separate the history of the industrial revolution from that of slavery and colonialism, Williams’ ground-breaking work was one of the first to integrate our thinking on this.

I would identify a further step: the link between racial injustice and climate injustice. During the industrial age the levels of pollution - which have driven the climate crisis - accelerated. As the Industrial Revolution was powered by the colonial Trans-Atlantic slave trade, racial injustice therefore sits at the heart of the climate crisis.

As an African Christian I can’t see how we can have this conversation, particularly one that focuses on our pollution, without looking at slavery, the industrial revolution and colonialism.

We need to look at this history holistically to be able to integrate our thinking and theological framework that can help us to address the problem. We need to look back to understand the root causes of our present crisis, so we come up with the right diagnosis and solution to our polluted state.

Today the symptoms of the wider problems are health inequalities, colonial conservation, and racial discrimination to name a few… but the main causes are enslavement, colonialism and industrial revolution and how they have shaped our history, the world and the narratives on environmental degradation. We have to look back to understand the damage and loss done in order to repair and experience healing and wholeness in the present.

If we are going to address the pollution resulting from climate injustice collectively, we need to look at the shared pain in this triangular history and how it needs redeeming in light of the climate crisis. If we are going to advocate together, we need to feel the pain together.  

After all, Paul talks about if one part of the body hurts, the whole body feels it (paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 12: 26). We cannot talk about climate loss and damage without reflecting the damage of the past. If we are trying to repair without reference to this, we will be critically missing an important factor.
 
As someone who comes from Nigeria, I have seen the consequences of the climate crisis first hand. I now live in the west, and it’s important to connect this historic disparity. Nigeria and other several African and Caribbean countries are still wrestling with the effects and legacies of colonialism, while at the same time suffering disproportionally from the climate crisis. I therefore view this issue and my approach girded by a biblical and theological imperative, underpinned by lived experience of living through the impact of climate change in Nigeria. This is key.
 
It begs the question, as Christians what is our theological framework for climate loss and damage? For me as a Christian taking scriptures seriously, biblical passages such as Micah 6:8 and the Jubilee festival in the Old Testament give us a basis of thinking around systemic and structural injustice. The Old Testament challenges us in regard to how we relate with people who are powerless and vulnerable, such as widows, orphans and migrants.
 
I want to see the climate conversation on pollution decolonised - at the moment it’s very heavily western - because the western agenda still drives it. We are only just beginning to look at the impact of climate crisis on people of colour, instead of focusing solely on natured-based issues (they are important but not in isolation). We need to look at people of colour who have been disadvantaged, and see how we can advocate with them.

We need a prophetic voice and wisdom in decolonising the climate conversation so that people of colour can be at heart of the debate of what delivering climate justice means.  


Image | Aaditya Arora | Pexels

 

Baptist minister the Revd Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana is Director of the One People Commission of the Evangelical Alliance

[1] Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (Milton Keynes: Penguin Classics, 2022), p. 48. This book was first published in the United States in 1944 but was not published in the UK until now due to some of the controversial themes the book addressed around slavery, abolition of slavery and industrial revolution - Israel Olofinjana

 

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