The climate crisis in Africa could “destabilize entire countries and regions” in one of the most affected continents in the world, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Friday.
This United Nations agency stressed that “water stress and hazards such as devastating droughts and floods are hitting African communities, economies and ecosystems hard.”
The warning appears in the “State of the Climate in Africa — 2021” report, released on the sidelines of the Southern African Ministerial Meeting on the Integrated Early Warning and Early Action System Initiative, which began Monday and ends Friday. in Maputo.
The study, a joint initiative of the WMO and the African Union (AU), with a special focus on water, reveals that rainfall patterns are alteredglaciers are disappearing and major lakes are shrinking.
Furthermore, the growing demand for water, combined with limited and unpredictable supplies, threatens to exacerbate conflict and the displacement of people.
The report indicates that high water stress – when the demand for water exceeds the amount available over a given period of time or its use is limited by poor quality – will affect an estimated 250 million people in Africa.
and it is expected that by 2030 it will be responsible for the displacement of 700 million people on the continent.
The WMO considers it “unlikely” that four out of five African countries will be able to sustainably manage water resources by 2030.
The organization recalls that Africa represents only between 2 and 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but “suffers disproportionately the results”.
The worsening crisis and looming famine in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa show how climate change can exacerbate water crises, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and destabilizing communities, countries and regions. whole,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
The commissioner of the AU Commission for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, said that extreme events such as heat waves, floods, tropical cyclones, prolonged droughts and sea level rise “result in in loss of human life, material damage and displacement. from the people”.
This reality, added Sacko, “undermines Africa’s ability” to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the AU Agenda 2063, which charts the continent’s path towards inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development. .
Currently, only 40% of the African population has access to early warning systems to protect themselves against the impacts of climate change.
However, more than 40 African countries have revised their national climate plans to make them more ambitious and add greater commitments for climate adaptation and mitigation.
The report makes several recommendations, including strengthening early warning systems, increasing cross-border cooperation and data sharing, investing in adaptation to the climate crisis, and a concerted push for more integrated water resources management. .
Source: Observadora
