[douche]

Who is this we? If people in Africa want to exploit their natural resources to develop and improve their lives, they should be free to do so. Everybody else has.

It's a little hypocritical for Westerners who have already reaped the benefits and costs of development to pull the ladder up after themselves for the rest of the world. I'm not of the persuasion that colonialism was the worst thing ever since the start of time, but it is especially hypocritical and racist to say "Oh, sorry, we built some shoddy infrastructure, wrecked a lot of your traditional society, and used you to extract resources, now you should go back to living in grass huts and dying of treatable diseases to save the rhinos."

If Africa can develop by skipping some of the shittier stages of agriculture->industry->post-industry evolution that we've experienced in the US, or Europe, or China, then that's a good thing.

[littletimmy]

Maybe the Westerners who exploited these lands should pay reparations to Africa and fast-track their development past industrialization. Or just offer Africans resettlement in Europe and the United States, thereby preserving African wilderness.

[douche]

Ok, have fun with that. I'll just go back over here and live in this world that actually exists...

[ashwinaj]

Amen. Or developed nations should give away clean technologies to developing nations; as I'm writing this it sounds laughable since I can totally see a CEOs saying "How do we answer our share holders for giving away technology?". Well obviously saving the planet is secondary to filling the pockets of a rich few.