The climate emergency “is already a reality in Africa“, assures the Beninese artist Romuald Hazoumé. Known worldwide for his masks made from recovered gasoline cans, he denounces”hypocrisy“of the rulers of the planet and regrets their”lack of courage“.
“Our leaders have the courage to take power, but they lack the courage to face the realities“, the 59-year-old artist told AFP in the run-up to COP26, which takes place in Glasgow (Scotland) from Sunday. He describes the politicians who minimize or deny global warming like “absolutely irresponsible“and in the”denial“.
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“In Africa, there cannot be this same hypocrisy, this bad faith, because the reality (of global warming) is already there.“, he says from the lush garden of his house in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin. A few meters from his home stretches for kilometers the beach of Fidjrossé, the”fishing route“, where the rising waters have been observed for several years.
“The temperature of the water and the air increases. When we look on our coasts, we have lots of algae that did not wash up before or others on the contrary which are grilled and which no longer resist this heat.“, he says.”In Benin, we are a country of water and, every year, there is damage linked to floods (…) we cannot continue to go straight into the wall“, emphasizes the artist.
The countries of the African continent are particularly vulnerable to climate change which in 2020 contributed to worsening food insecurity, poverty and population displacement, according to a UN report released on Tuesday. If nothing changes, up to 118 million extremely poor people will be at risk of drought, flooding and extreme heat on the continent by 2030, according to the same report.
“It will come back to us“, insists Romuald Hazoumé. “With the rising waters, there are islands and countries that will disappear. There are populations that will be erased from the Earth. “” We have no choice, it will be a question of survival. “, he says.
Usually very critical of the rulers, Romuald Hazoumé, which has been using waste as recovery material since the 1980s, says it remains hopeful. For example, he welcomes the management of waste in large Beninese cities for the past five years. “The roads are cleaned every night and there is no more garbage clogging the gutters, it gives me hope“, he said.”We can do it, it takes willpower, African countries can do it, and not always position themselves as victims“.
Five years ago, the artist participated in the COP22 which took place in Marrakech in Morocco: “I was so angry when I saw what was going on, the big polluters giving lessons to small countries“, he remembers.”How many factories do we have in our small countries? We know the real polluters“, he insists, quoting”large industries like China“.