Super El Niño emerges: Climate vulnerability patterns reveal systemic global inequities
Original framing: “A Super El Niño is coming: 5 hard‑won lessons the world can learn from Africa” — Phys.org
Africa's climate vulnerability is deeply rooted in colonial history, where land and resource control were stripped away, disrupting traditional climate adaptation systems. The current focus on 'lessons' from Africa ignores this history and the ongoing exploitation of African resources by global powers.
Africa's climate experiences are not just lessons but symptoms of a deeper systemic failure in global climate governance.
The continent's vulnerability is rooted in colonial legacies, resource extraction, and unequal access to climate finance. Indigenous knowledge systems offer viable alternatives to technocratic models, while cross-cultural comparisons reveal the value of localized adaptation strategies. To move forward, climate policy must be restructured to prioritize justice, equity, and the inclusion of marginalized voices. This requires not only scientific modeling but also a deep reckoning with historical and ongoing power imbalances. The trickster's role is to disrupt the illusion of neutrality in climate narratives and to reveal the hidden structures of exploitation that sustain them.