[ad_1]
Next fall, one The African country, most likely Egypt, will host COP27, the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference.This is followed by two other Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, which will be released next year, which will outline the deteriorating effects of climate change climate change, The adaptation that the world needs to make, and our vulnerability to the climate crisis. These are issues that particularly affect the African continent. The joint attention brought by COP27 and IPCC will mean that Africa’s climate story has finally become the focus of the global media.
Over the years, Africa has been facing escalating climate-related disasters. This summer, 6 million people in Angola faced hunger due to the country’s worst drought in 40 years. Thousands of Angolan “climate refugees” were forced to cross the border into Namibia. Similar droughts paralyzed the northern and southern parts of the African continent, and Algeria and Madagascar were both hit hard by lack of water. At the same time, the locusts—intensified by the hurricane—East Africa swarmed, West Africa’s agriculture is being severely affected by monsoon changes.
Africa has long lacked the attention of countries and people outside the African continent. Climate events such as floods in Germany and China and wildfires in Canada and Greece this year have naturally been reported all over the world. The floods in Nigeria and Uganda have been largely ignored.
In 2022, this balance will change. Since institutions such as the IPCC are concerned about how climate change has affected people and what measures we must take to adapt to climate change, Africa cannot be excluded. The African continent accounts for only 3% of global historical emissions, but it is experiencing some of the worst effects of climate change and has the fewest resources to adapt. Conversations will begin to revolve around how rich countries-and the most polluting countries-can help African countries (and other incapable countries) become more resilient to the inevitable disasters they face. The UN’s “loss and damage” policy proposal, that is, the idea of large polluters to compensate affected countries for the damage and destruction suffered by climate change (this idea is often opposed by developed countries), will be brought back to the international climate agenda from Voice of Africa.
Although Africa has historically contributed little to pollution, it also needs to play a role in reducing global carbon emissions. In particular, it will need to help transition to clean energy, as electricity demand on the African continent is expected to double by 2030. However, funds and investments from non-African companies and governments seeking to mine and burn fossils continue to pour into African fuels. The 1,400-kilometer East African Crude Oil Pipeline (currently built by French oil company Total) from Hoima, Uganda to the Port of Tanga, Tanzania, is a good example. The project will replace local people and destroy farmland and biodiversity, but the profits will be diverted mainly from the African continent.
Next year, we will need this money to stop the flow of fossil fuels and instead use it to expand the adoption of renewable energy and investment in nature. For example, Congo has the second largest tropical rain forest in the world. Like the Amazon River, it is an important global component that regulates the Earth’s climate. However, unlike the Amazon, it is not the focus of the world’s attention, even though the escalating deforestation there threatens all of us.
[ad_2]
Source link
