What’s the news?

• The report from the World Meteorological Organization and other agencies, released ahead of the UN climate conference in Scotland stated that Oct. 31, is a grim reminder that Africa’s 1.3 billion people remain “extremely vulnerable” as the continent warms more, and at a faster rate, than the global average and yet Africa’s 54 countries are responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

News in detail

• The new report seizes on the shrinking glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda as symbols of the rapid and widespread changes to come.
• Their current retreat rates are higher than the global average and If this continues, it will lead to total deglaciation by the 2040s.
• Massive displacement, hunger and increasing climate shocks such droughts and flooding are to come in the future, and yet the lack of climate data in parts of Africa “is having a major impact” on disaster warnings for millions of people.
• Estimates of the economic effects of climate change vary across the African continent, but “in sub-Saharan Africa, climate change could further lower gross domestic product by up to 3% by 2050.
• By 2030, up to 118 million extremely poor people, or those living on less than $1.90 a day, “will be exposed to drought, floods and extreme heat in Africa if adequate response measures are not put in place.
• Already, the UN has warned that the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar is one where “famine-like conditions have been driven by climate change while parts of South Sudan are seeing the worst flooding in almost 60 years.
• African participation in IPCC reports has been “extremely low,” according to Future Climate for Africa, a multi-country research program.
• Overall, Africa will need investments of over $3 trillion in mitigation and adaptation by 2030 to implement its (national climate plans), requiring significant, accessible and predictable inflows of conditional finance.
• The cost of adapting to climate change in Africa will rise to $50 billion per year by 2050, even assuming the international efforts to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

Reference:

1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/africas-glaciers-to-disappear-soon-118mn-may-face-droughts-floods-report-101634637395665.html