Someone has said that Africa has always suffered the faults of the rest of the world but also makes an alibi out of it.
This is perhaps a somewhat cynical simplification, but it certainly frames some of the issues of the modern era whereby we move beyond the historical (pre)concepts of slavery, colonization and resource exploitation to embrace the modern ones of transforming former third world countries into "developing countries" through technology, infrastructure and various funding.

Into all this comes the most topical issue of all and one in which the African continent is once again feeling exploited: climate change.
Over the past 150 years, that is, since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, Africa has been responsible for only 2.8 percent of global fossil fuel emissions, far less than Great Britain alone (4.3 percent).
Even today, with all the traffic and little attention to LTZs and other grandchildren's remedies, in as many as 39 African countries, per capita carbon emissions are within the guard level of only 1.5 percent above pre-industrial levels. This is clearly due to its nature, the open spaces of its immense area, alBut Africa's low level of economic development means limited infrastructure, energy access and food security, and this is ultimately what makes Africa so vulnerable. "It is no coincidence that 13 of the 20 most climate-vulnerable countries globally are also among the 20 poorest in terms of GDP per capita," Mo Ibrahim, owner of the eponymous foundation that studies climate change in Africa, explained in an editorial.

He, along with the Kenyan government and the African Union, are the initiators of the first Africa Climate Summit, which is being held starting today in Nairobi and is also attended by an Italian delegation from the Ministry of Environment, led by Undersecretary Claudio Barbaro, as well as the Italian Ambassador to Kenya, Roberto Natali.

It is also often said that these big meetings, conferences in general are a waste of time and a waste of money. In this case, however, there is a positive element, that the climate summit is focused on Africa and is organized by the very nations that suffer this problem. We have also been used to a certain "colonization" of solidarity and ecology. Here, on the other hand, everything starts independently and those who have been invited have to come and bring solutions, know-how and, needless to say, aid.

It will be interesting, at least for those of us who live in the largest of the African countries involved and follow their affairs on a daily basis, to see what will come out of the three days in Nairobi.
We will let you know.