* The African countries have always stated that they will not be solely responsible for the occurrence of climate change and its effects represented by droughts and food and water stress in light of the inability of governments to meet the needs of their peoples, and calls for urgent and practical global, regional and national actions, and the strengthening of ambition to confront climate change.
* In the same context, the Chairperson of the African Commission of the African Union, Moussa Faki Ahmed stressed this month on the occasion of the anniversary of the announcement of the transformation of the Organization of African Unity into the “African Union” on the ninth of September 1999 from 46 countries, that “the priority now for the African Union is to confront The repercussions of climate change on the countries of the continent” among other challenges, noting that “the intra-regional movement in the countries of the continent is still weak, and that the weak productive capacity in agriculture and energy contributes to the isolation of the continent.”
Although the “African Union” has faced many political, social and economic challenges since its establishment, the emergence of the climate change crisis has reflected the institutional failures of its countries. Climate change 2014.
* Given its high population density, Africa is located in a range threatened by water scarcity and is exposed to negative repercussions of climate change, due to its dependence on agriculture despite its many other resources, which affects the abundance of food and the national security of its countries.
*The director of the Center for Climate and Energy Research in Nairobi, Mohamed Addao, said, “Africa has been one of the least affected by climate change, but it will face the most consequences, which is completely unfair.”
* The United Nations Conference on Climate Change “COP27”, to be held in Egypt next November, may open the opportunity for Africa to “express its priorities and present its demands regarding climate change, achieving sustainable development goals and eradicating poverty, and obtaining appropriate funding from through a dedicated facility for Africa, adopting a transformative agenda for intersectoral adaptation and promoting the concept of an inclusive and just transition.”
*This leads to the controversy surrounding the concept of “climate justice” that African countries adhere to, that the climate crisis does not affect everyone equally.
Although Africa’s contribution to this crisis is small and not equal to the negative effects and the release of high emissions as a result of economic activity in the advanced industrial countries, but it faces great damages, which makes the rich world indebted to it and to developing countries, which requires its contribution to support their efforts to confront the effects of climate change.
At the Summit on Climate Change Adaptation in Africa, which was held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on the fifth of September, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, stated that “African countries are among the countries most affected by the effects of climate change, and they are also among the countries The youngest people in the world, so they have certain needs and aspirations that we should help meet, and if there are partners, we will invest by means dedicated to this purpose, as our resources devoted to development will continue to increase.”
And he announced the financial support provided by France to “the project to accelerate the pace of adaptation in Africa with about 10 million dollars within the 6 billion dollars allocated annually to finance the fight against climate change in developing countries.”
A report issued on November 8 last year by the COP26 Climate Summit warned that “the 65 countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change in the world, led by Sudan, will witness a decline in their gross domestic product by 20% by 2050, and about 64 percent by 2100, if the world temperature rises by 2.9 degrees Celsius.”
* In a previous interview with the official news agency of Sudan (SUNA) with the National Director of the Climate Risk Financing Project, Rashida Hassan Dafaallah, said that “most of the regions of Sudan are dry and desert and suffer from limited water resources with low-fertility soils and frequent droughts, caused by climatic changes and some human practices. This has made Sudan vulnerable to climatic shocks, and therefore severe droughts are among the most important threats it faces, noting that the succession of dry years has become a clear phenomenon in it, threatening agriculture and grazing.”
*Dafallah added that “drought waves increase the fragility of the available natural resources, and result in a decrease in the fertility of the lands and consequently the continued absence of food security resulting from low productivity and food production, because more than 80 percent of Sudanese depend for their food on agriculture, which contributes about half of the GDP. gross, as well as on grazing.”
*Limited efforts have been made to promote awareness of climate dangers on food security, and journalist Lina Yassin stated, “and due to political instability, Sudan’s institutions are subject to continuous change, so it has limited contributions to multilateral agreements on climate such as the United Nations Framework Agreement on Climate Change.”
Yassin explained that Sudan “needs to start initiatives to achieve food security by planting green belts, creating appropriate local climates, and developing organic and irrigated drip agriculture, and drinking water must be provided in remote areas using solar-powered pumps that save time and give children the opportunity to attend school instead of Work in transferring water from wells to homes, and promoting women’s empowerment by supporting women’s organizations to raise awareness of the importance of their role in development and decision-making.”
*Water scarcity is one of the features of climate change, and its effects have begun to become evident in Africa, due to the difficulty of accessing water for many remote communities in the countries of the continent, either due to the fragility of infrastructure or economic marginalization resulting from political difficulties or armed conflicts. Some studies predict that “by 2025, approximately 230 million Africans will face water scarcity, and up to 460 million will live in water-stressed areas.”
*Water scarcity plays a dual role. At a time when the population is difficult to access water due to ethnic, tribal and political conflicts, water scarcity is also a cause of conflicts, including disputes over water around Lake Chad and in separate parts of Sudan over areas of agriculture and grazing where rainwater is available. and ground water.
*In Kenya and Ethiopia similar cases of violence due to the conflict over water resources, and more than 167 people were killed in Mali and more than 50,000 fled their homes during the violence that erupted in 2019 due to water scarcity, according to United Nations estimates. The United Nations expects agricultural yields to decline by 20 percent every decade by the end of this century in some parts of the African Sahel, and the emergence of other crises that may lead to international conflicts, such as the Renaissance Dam crisis between Ethiopia on the one hand and Sudan and Egypt on the other.
*The conflict over water has also exacerbated the displacement crisis, in addition to the drying up of some African lakes and rivers that used to provide water to the local communities around them, which is part of the global crisis that came in the United Nations estimates that “some of the effects of climate displacement are already being felt around the world, An average of 21.5 million people around the world are displaced by sudden disasters every year.
* There are those who see the need for African countries to rely on renewable energy sources, but this proposal faces the difficulties of political instability in most countries of the continent, and the difficulty of adapting economic policies, which deters international investments, and solar and wind energy are economically evaluated as “unattractive.” , because it does not generate quick and large profits.
* Organizations urged African countries to “interest in self-financing by allocating national budgets to finance projects to confront climate change, which requires maximizing tax revenues, national savings and investments of sovereign funds.”
* There are those who believe that the African continent, which some countries of the world are alluding to sacrifice in the midst of the climate change crisis, can achieve the vision of getting out of the bottleneck by investing in liquefied natural gas, whose importance has emerged economically and environmentally, and some countries can use it as a means of political, economic and environmental safety.
Quoted from an Arab Independent
