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Third World at the Crossroads

On February 7, 2008, the World Bank announced the creation of a multi-billion dollar fund to ensure the development of clean energy in developing countries. In his blog post, "A Solar Future For the World Bank in South Africa?" David Wheeler, Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, a social policy think tank, lays out a route by which this fund could pave the way for transformative change in energy policy for developing countries by choosing to fund newer technologies instead of pursuing a business as usual approach to energy production.

Wheeler advises the World Bank to apply carbon charges to their analyses prior to funding prospective projects. He predicts that by using charges well below standards set by the European Union, the financial analysts will find that solar powered energy production is now cheaper than coal.

The issue of how developing nations prepare for and position themselves for climate change is inseparable from economic policy initiatives aimed at reducing poverty in these areas. In Africa Policy Outlook 2008, Gerald LeMelle notes, "The threats posed by climate change are intricately linked to existing human development challenges such as food insecurity, conflict, and public health problems like the absence of clean water."

LeMelle describes the relationship between climate change, drought, and health issues in developing Africa. He cites the United Nation's 2007/2008 Human Development Report, which states that in sub-Saharan Africa, "some of the highest concentrations of poverty in the world face the danger of potential productivity losses [of arable land] of 26% by 2060."

LeMelle goes on to urge developed countries such as the United States to take a leadership role in helping third world countries prepare for climate change by reducing their own carbon emissions. He points out that "according to UN estimates, sub-Saharan Africa's entire population, rapidly approaching one billion people, emits less carbon dioxide than the 23 million Americans who live in Texas alone."

Demanding that developed nations clean up their act without taking decisive action to lower greenhouse gas emissions would, however, lead third world countries to disaster, predicts Wheeler. In a Working Paper entitled, "Another Inconvenient Truth: A Carbon-Intensive South Faces Environmental Disaster, No Matter What the North Does," Wheeler tests the hypothesis that the developing world should be allowed to develop economically in order

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