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AFRICA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
A green economy should be central to every policy made in Africa
Despite negligible industrial activities, Africa currently suffers the most devastating impact of climate change, including droughts, floods, and pest invasions. These dire consequences have been put into verifiable costs that could cause further distress for people on the continent. The grim data show, unmistakably, that climate change remains a threat to Africa, with the continent currently losing between $7 billion and $15 billion every year to the phenomenon, and the trend shows that it would rise to $50 billion per year by 2040.
Scientists believe the risks of climate change on agricultural production, food security, water resources and ecosystem services will likely have increasingly severe consequences on lives and sustainable development prospects in Africa. Managing the risk requires an integration of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the management of ecosystem goods and services, and the agriculture production systems on the continent. In addition, it has been determined that solutions to global warming in Africa include effective land use planning to avoid forest degradation, developing renewable energy, and limiting the expansion of coal-fired power plants.
It is noteworthy that Africa is exploring home-grown solutions, but there are strong indications that the continent is likely to benefit from international efforts to reduce global temperature, particularly with the reentry of the United States into the Paris Climate Accord, including taking the leadership role. Environmentalists are of the opinion that raising of climate ambition by the United States and other rich countries should be a good thing for Africa, which could benefit over time in terms of reduction in the scale and intensity of the negative impact of climate change. Most countries in Africa cannot carry out adaptation plans as stated in their ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution they submitted at the Paris Agreement for lack of funds, and the advent of COVID-19 has worsened the situation. However, Africa is likely to receive more funding from the U.S., which can also unlock financé from other countries and private entities.
We are optimistic that the low funding arrangement can be improved upon, since the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, in recognition of the inadequate finance available for adaptation in developing countries, particularly those in Africa, called for 50% of all climate finance provided by developed countries and multilateral development banks to be allocated to adaptation and resilience in Africa and in other developing countries. The African Development Bank (AfDB) set the bar in 2019 by allocating over half of its climate financing to adaptation.
What is crucial now is for Africa to move in lockstep with the global community in reducing the impact of climate change. Individual countries on the continent should come to grips with the fact that global green transition has begun and that they must plan to be part of it or be left behind. A green economy should form the fulcrum of every policy made in Africa. This will take careful planning. African leaders need to heed the call, ahead of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November, by the President of the conference, Mr. Alok Sharma, and the President of the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid, Ms. Carolina Schmidt, on all countries to either follow through on commitments made under the Climate Ambition Alliance, or to join the efforts of the Alliance.
The Climate Ambition Alliance is beneficial to all countries, particularly Africa’s, because it brings together countries, businesses, investors, cities, and regions which are working towards achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, as well as countries committed to updating their national climate action plans under the Paris Agreement – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
