ADDIS ABABA (3 March, Xinhua), — African experts and pan-African organisations marked African Environment Day on Thursday. They stressed the need for Africa to combat climate change-induced catastrophes.
Africa Environment Day is celebrated every March 3 by the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union. It was established in 2002 by OAU, the Organization of African Unity, to raise awareness of the urgent environmental challenges facing Africa. Since 2012, Africa Environment Day has been observed in conjunction with Wangari Maathai Day to honor the late Nobel laureate’s legacy of nature conservation.
In an effort to address the twin impacts of climate change, the African continent has been preparing to give its full attention to integrating sustainable environment management into its development policies at both the continental and national levels.
Experts however stated that, despite the admirable efforts being made to counter the impacts of climate change on the continent, it is urgent to intensify efforts to end the scourge.
Adefris, a senior forestry expert at Ethiopia’s Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission, stated that climate change is increasing in Africa due to a variety of factors, including the expansion and growth of the agricultural sector.
Agriculture, which is the backbone for African economies, is one of the main drivers of desertification. An increasing number of people is causing a decrease in forest area across Africa.
“Desertification poses a serious threat to Africa.” “Desertification is becoming a very serious threat to Africa,” Worku stated to Xinhua in a recent interview.
In its call for action on Thursday, the AU stressed that Africa continues to face serious environmental challenges. It stated that climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification and unsustainable use finite natural resources continue to be a significant threat to Africa’s ability to achieve the Agenda 2063’s sustainable development goals.
While the AU stated that environmental deterioration had exacerbated crises like droughts, armed conflict, or other natural catastrophes on the continent; the AU stressed that sustainable environment management was essential to the pursuit of food safety, security, and stability within Africa.
“To address the twin impacts of climate change, and desertification,” said the pan-African bloc.
According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), despite being home to just 17 percent of the world population and emitting only 4 percent of global pollution, Africa is the most affected continent by climate change.
Linus Mofor from the ECA, a senior environmental specialist, stated Wednesday that African economies are losing an average of 5 percent of their GDP to climate change. In some cases, it is increasing up to 15% in some countries.
Mofor spoke during a virtual meeting about partnerships for tools, capacities and climate resilience to integrate in investments for sustainable growth. He stated that in the absence global concerted action to keep warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius, African countries need to be provided with the tools, capacities, and tools needed to integrate climate resilient in the massive investments required to close the development gaps.
Mofor insisted that African countries had shown “great leadership” in climate action and stated that “all but two African nations have ratified the Paris Agreement with ambitious nationally determined contributions, which will require up to 3 trillion U.S. Dollars for implementation.”
Despite the difficulties, African countries have been taking ambitious initiatives to stop the rapid expansion in desertification on the continent. This will help reduce the impact of climate change upon communities’ livelihoods.
One of the African-led initiatives aiming at restoring Africa’s degraded landscapes is the Great Green Wall (or Great Green Wall of the Sahara) and the Sahel Initiative.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) states that the Great Green Wall Initiative will be the largest living structure ever constructed on the planet. It will cover 8,000 km of land, spanning the entire continent from Senegal in West Africa to Djibouti to the east.
Worku reports that Ethiopia, one of the signatory nations of the initiative considers the ambitious project “a very important strategy to combat desertification” and to ensure sustainable development in the country.
The initiative has been implemented in more than 20 African countries. It aims to restore 100 million hectares of land that is currently under threat and sequester 250 million metric tons carbon by 2030.