President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has called on developed countries and partners to keep their promise to provide Africa with the $100 billion a year needed for climate adaptation.
Speaking on the continent’s priorities as a guest at the Atlantic Council’s Africa Centre, Adesina said that Africa’s most vulnerable countries have been hardest hit by conflict, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the AfDB chief, Africa, which has the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, has lost up to 30 million jobs due to the pandemic.
Rich nations pledged in 2009 to give developing countries $100 billion a year to help them deal with climate change, but the target date was pushed back to 2023 at the beginning of the 2021 COP26 summit.
The world’s wealthiest nations account for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions; however, scientists say poorer countries, particularly in Africa, are suffering the worst effects of climate change.
Data from AfDB shows that Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change despite contributing the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions.
The bank had noted that climate change posed systemic risks to the continent’s economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods.
Also, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) State of the Climate in Africa 2020 report shows that climate change effects in Africa have increased the frequency and intensity of droughts, lowered animal growth rates and productivity in pastoral systems and produced negative effects in food security in drylands.
‘Africa accounts for no more than three, four percent of global greenhouse gas emission but suffers disproportionately from the negative impact of that’, he said.
‘According to the Global Vulnerability Index, nine out of the ten most vulnerable countries to climate change are in Africa, incidentally 100 percent of those are actually the African Development Fund low income and transition stage countries.
‘We live in climate change every single day and there is a need for urgent support for Africa. When developed countries said they were going to provide $100 billion of support per year for developing countries to adapt to climate change, that remains a promise that needs to be met.
‘The $100 billion commitment needs to be on the table for countries. The other thing that needs to be done is also to recognise that the amount of money we need to deal with climate change is more than a $100 billion per year, so the private sector needs to be a key part of that’.
The AfDB launched its Climate Change and Green Growth Framework in 2021. The framework is expected to enable the bank prioritise interventions, inform and guide the alignment of its future operations with the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement.
Source: AfDB
Photo source: Paul Kagame
