Climate change is a major threat to development throughout Africa. Important sectors, such as agriculture, health and water, will suffer a considerable adverse impact due to 1.5 ⁰C-2 ⁰C of global warming, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
In the agricultural sector, the negative impacts of climate change will be seen in crops, fishing and livestock. Food production and food security will be threatened. Cereal crop losses south of the Sahara could range from 2% for sorghum to 35% for wheat by 2050. Another study concludes that millet production losses will range from 48 to 55% by mid-September. century.
For health, several studies, including the IPPC report, project that climate change will increase the burden of human disease on the continent. Lethal heat exposure will affect hundreds of millions of people in many African cities.
The availability of water for livestock and fishing is also at risk. Over 50% of commercially important freshwater fish species could become extinct. The impact of climate hazards is growing at an alarming rate. For example, floods and droughts accounted for 80% and 16% of the observed impacts on human settlements over the past decade. Both climate hazards have affected nearly 340 million people in Africa. Flood deaths have increased; poverty is worse and education and health services have been hampered.
Given all these challenges, the debate has focused on climate risks, impact and increasing the resilience of vulnerable groups. But the international community and bilateral organizations have mostly avoided questions about who should be responsible for addressing these problems.
My colleagues and I have highlighted important points that are relevant to managing climate change risks in Africa. This study looked at what prevents more useful responses to climate change in Africa. Finances are the key.
The global climate debate has not addressed loss and damage in developing countries, including countries in Africa. The IPCC report states that without global action, climate-related shocks and risks could undermine Africa’s development.
Developed countries have a historic responsibility for global emissions, but they are shirking their responsibility to the developing world. They have fallen short of their pledge of US$100 billion in climate aid to developing countries by 2020. The deadline to mobilize finance has been extended to 2025.
But how realistic is this promise?
Challenges in obtaining and spending climate finance
African countries face several challenges when it comes to global climate finance.
First is the distinction between mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation projects include sustainable transportation, renewable energy, and energy efficient technologies. Some countries, such as Morocco and South Africa, may receive funding from donors to implement projects like these. But most African countries are left out due to weak institutional capacity.
In many African countries, adaptation projects are financed in key sectors such as agriculture, the environment, health and water. However, these projects are underfunded, fragmented and poorly coordinated. There continues to be a mismatch between mitigation and adaptation projects in Africa, as funding is inaccessible for the latter.
The lack of a clear formula to distinguish between donor mitigation and adaptation funds has undermined the implementation of climate change projects in many African countries. Donors such as the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility and European countries prefer to finance mitigation projects instead of adaptation projects. Their argument for financing mitigation projects is that they are measurable and their success is visible. However, the international community believes that adaptation should be given priority.
In addition, about 80% of the funding for research into climate problems affecting Africa goes to developed countries, especially the United States and Europe. Kenya and South Africa accounted for 2.3% and 2.2% respectively.
The unequal funding relationship affects not only the design and dissemination of research. It also reduces African research capacity and local expertise to implement research results.
Many donor-funded capacity development programs are unique and isolated from national climate change programmes. This affects the ability of African countries to participate in climate change technology transfer projects. In the absence of enabling environments or institutional frameworks to encourage regulation, technology providers will be reluctant to create access to technology.
Five things African countries need
Over the past three decades, several international negotiations on climate change have taken place around the world. They have given few results. And Africa continues to search for solutions to many of its problems related to climate change.
Donors and the international community should pay attention to the following five points.
- Bilateral and multilateral agencies must align their climate change agenda with national development planning in terms of adaptation and mitigation activities.
- Donors must ensure access to climate finance and also make money available for relevant climate change research led and disseminated by African researchers at national and local levels.
- Climate change mitigation institutions should be established in all five regions of Africa. These should provide the capacity that will allow individual governments to train experts, facilitate technology transfer and implement mitigation projects. Only with mitigation institutions can a new African carbon market initiative be effectively implemented.
- National governments must increase investment in academic and research institutions.
- National ministries and departments should coordinate policies on adaptation measures. An integrated adaptation framework is required to implement Climate Resilient Debt Clauses or the African Climate Risk Fund as part of overall adaptation strategies and measures to protect vulnerable groups against climate risks and impacts.
The success of COP27 will be largely determined by the way in which climate change issues in Africa are prioritized and negotiated, and the type of workable solutions that are provided. No option, such as adaptation, is enough to address climate change in Africa. Both adaptation and mitigation measures need to be promoted through integrated responses that are linked to development objectives. These objectives are to eradicate poverty and provide energy security, health security and food security, as well as foster sustainable economic growth and prosperity.
Ademola Adenle, Visiting Professor of Sustainability Science at the Technical University of Denmark, Colorado State University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
