Autumn is coming, an The African country, most likely Egypt, will host COP27 — the 27th United Nations conference on Climate Change. This will follow two more reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due to be published next year, which will highlight the worsening effects of climate change. climate change, the adaptation the world needs to make, and our vulnerability to the climate crisis. These are issues that particularly affect the African continent. The combined focus brought by COP27 and IPCC will mean that Africa’s climate story is finally getting global media attention.
Africa has faced escalating climate-related disasters for years. This summer, 6 million people in Angola face starvation due to the worst drought the country has seen in 40 years. Thousands of Angolan “climate refugees” have been forced to cross the border into Namibia. Similar droughts have crippled the north and south of the continent, with Algeria and Madagascar both ravaged by water shortages. Meanwhile, locusts — aggravated by tornadoes —is spreading to East Africa, and agriculture in West Africa is being profoundly affected by the shifting monsoon.
Africa has long lacked the interest of nations and populations outside the continent. Climate events such as floods in Germany and China and wildfires in Canada and Greece this year have, rather, covered the world. Flooding in Nigeria and Uganda has been largely ignored.
In 2022, this balance will shift. Since agencies like the IPCC focus on how climate change is already affecting people and what we must do to adapt, Africa cannot be left out. The continent contributes only 3% of historic global emissions, but it is experiencing some of the worst effects of climate change and has the fewest resources to adapt. Conversations will begin to focus on how rich countries – also the biggest polluters – can help African countries (and others without the means) to become more resilient in the face of the inevitable devastation they face. The United Nations “Loss and Damages” policy proposal, the idea that major polluters compensate affected countries for the damage and devastation they have experienced as a result of change climate (an idea often opposed by developed nations), will be put back on the international climate agenda with the voice of Africans.
Africa, although historically a very small contributor to pollution, will also need to play a part in reducing global carbon emissions. In particular, it will need help with the transition to clean energy, as electricity demand on the continent is predicted to double by 2030. However, money and investment will continue to pour into the countries. African nationals from non-African corporations and governments looking to extract and burn fossils. fuel. The 1,400-kilometer East African crude oil pipeline from Hoima, Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania – currently under construction by French oil company Total – is a prime example of this. The project will displace locals and destroy agricultural lands and biodiversity, but most of the profits will be taken off the continent.
Next year, we’ll need that money to stop flowing into fossil fuels and be used instead to scale up renewable energy use and invest in nature. For example, Congo is home to the world’s second largest rainforest. Like the Amazon, it is an important global component for regulating Earth’s climate. However, unlike the Amazon, it is not in the center of the world’s attention, even though the increasing deforestation there threatens us all.
