Countering the Impacts of climate change is weakening African countries’ economies experts have reported at the assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union for 2019 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Harsen Nyambe Nyambe of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture at the AUC observed that the cost of climate change to GDP is escalating due to reduced agricultural productivity and higher costs of adaptation.
The experts observed that apart, from struggling with poor agricultural productivity due to poor climatic conditions, human displacement has had terrifying impacts on nearly all the African economies.
A World Bank Report shows that unless urgent action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, up to 143 million “internal migrants” will be forced to move within their own countries to escape the gradual effects of climate change by 2050.
Globally, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) points out that an average of 22.5 million people has been displaced each year by climate or weather-related disasters in the last seven years, equivalent to 62,000 people every day.
John Bideri from Rwanda stated that the country has had to move hundreds of families to safer grounds with finances the country hadn’t budgeted for.
Bideri says that the only way to reverse the situation will be by reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but again, the developed world must provide finances to help Africa cope with the prevailing situation, given that Africa has contributed the least towards emission of greenhouse gas emissions.
Africa is already experiencing higher warming and more extreme weather events, leading to disruptions in ecosystems, economies and livelihoods. These disruptions are in turn causing new insecurities in the populations of the continent, leading to conflicts, displacements and disempowerment.
The experts from the African Climate Change community were discussing in a meeting to examine how adequate the outcomes of the COP24 – the “Katowice Climate Package” – is in driving effective actions to address climate-induced human insecurity in Africa. The outcomes will be presented to the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM), aims to strengthen the international response to large movements of refugees and protracted refugee situations. It has 10 principles which address the effect of climate change on migration.
Original Post: Environews