While the African continent pollutes relatively little on a global scale, its inhabitants find themselves on the front lines of climate change. Drought in East Africa, high temperatures in North Africa, floods in West Africa weigh down the African climate.
Ahead of COP27, scheduled for November 7 to 18 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, African countries are meeting, from August 29 until August 2, in Gabon, in the capital, Libreville, which hosts African Climate Week.
The conference in question is organized on each continent to prepare for COP27 and “respond to the urgent challenges of climate change”, note the daily Africa News. The opportune moment to discuss the decisions taken during COP26, in particular the question of financing, adds the media Gabon News.
Distress and dryness
The African States present will focus in particular on the situation in Somalia. Indeed, the country is currently going through one of the worst droughts in contemporary history. Already experts fear a probable fifth season of drought in the space of two years, deplores the Qatari news site Al-Jazeera.
”Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe” a World Meteorological Organization official told Al-Jazeera. According to the media, forecasts for the months of October and December point to the imminent arrival of a new catastrophic drought season.
The situation, already critical, is aggravated by a great famine. Across the country, hunger has caused the mass displacement of Somalis to camps. In the landlocked Bay region of southern Somalia, a camp has taken in 300 new arrivals, starving to the point of death. “eating animal skins”, reports The media Voice of Africa. As food aid becomes increasingly scarce, the displaced are forced to survive by eating animal remains.
This deadly drought coincides with the global rise in food and fuel prices caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
Funds are missing
African representatives wish to seize the opportunity offered by Africa Climate Week to lobby the European Union for the necessary funds to finance climate change initiatives. “green technologies and carbon credit programs”, Explain Al-Jazeera.
However, a form of Western disengagement seems to be creating growing frustration in the ranks of the least polluting continent on a global scale.“the rich countries have not honored their promise of 100 billion dollars a year”, precise Al-Jazeera, only “a fraction” made available to beneficiary countries.
African countries, which bear the brunt of the ecological consequences of climate change, are now hoping for more funding, to “projects such as levees, drought resistant infrastructure and early warning systems for extreme weather conditions”.