Climate change will exacerbate extreme poverty in Africa

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The recent melting of glaciers in East Africa could undermine efforts to reduce the extreme poverty in which 118 million people on the continent could find themselves in 2030.According to a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) it warns that the number of people living on less than $1.90 a day will experience drought, flooding and extreme heat if immediate response measures are not taken.

While presenting the “State of the Climate in Africa in 2020 Report”, WMO Secretary Petteri Taalas warned of the “rapid” decline of the last glaciers in East Africa, which are expected to completely melt in the near future, threatening imminent change and no irreversible in the system” and may lead to increased food insecurity, poverty and displacement in Africa.

This melting in African glaciers, according to the World Meteorological Organization, will represent a “extra burden” Poverty alleviation initiatives will be hampered “so far” Prosperity growth, explains Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission, Josefa Leonel Correa Sako.

The multidisciplinary study warns that changes in precipitation composition, increased temperatures, and increased extreme weather conditions have contributed to increased food insecurity, poverty and displacement in Africa in 2020, Exacerbation of the social, economic and health crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic.

The study currently indicates that only three mountains in Africa are covered by glaciers. This is the massif of Mount Kenya (Kenya), the Rwenzori Mountains (Uganda) and Mount Kilimanjaro (United Republic of Tanzania).

Although these glaciers are too small to play a significant role as reservoirs of water, they are of great tourist and scientific importance, but their current rates of retreat are higher than the global average, and if this continues, there will be a total decade-long decline. The year 2040, 10 years ago in Mount Kenya, Which would become one of the first mountain ranges to lose glaciers as a result of climate change due to human activity.

The document outlines the trends and impacts of climate change on the continent, such as rising sea levels and the melting of the continent’s famous glaciers, highlights the disproportionate vulnerability of Africa and shows how the potential benefits of investments in climate adaptation, weather and climate services. Early warning systems far outweigh the costs.

Secondly, Explains the potential benefits of investments in climate adaptation, Weather and climate services and early warning systems far outweigh the costs.

For Taalas, besides recovering from COVID-19, improving resilience to climate change is an “urgent and ongoing” need and urges investments, especially necessary in capacity development and technology transfer, as well as in improving early warning systems in countries, including That’s weather, water and climate monitoring systems.

This report is the result of the collaboration of WMO, the African Union Commission and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) through the African Center for Climate Policy, International and regional scientific organizations and United Nations agencies.

The State of Climate in Africa 2020 is presented in the context of the Extraordinary Meeting of the World Meteorological Conference and prior to the United Nations climate change negotiations at the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) starting on 1 November.

This new study calls for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions, raising climate ambition and increasing funding for adaptation.

Lionel Correa denounced that Africa is experiencing an increase in meteorological and climatic variability, causing disasters and disruptions to economic, ecological and social systems. In fact, it is estimated that climate change in sub-Saharan Africa could cause GDP to fall by as much as 3 percent by 2050.

“Not only are the material conditions worsening, but the number of people affected is also increasing”, mint.

The new report concludes that Africa has warmed at a higher rate than the global average temperature across the entire Earth’s surface and oceans and that 2020 was between the third and eighth hottest years since records exist on the continent, depending on the dataset used.

Specifically, rates of sea level rise are above the global average on the tropical coast, the South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean coast: by 3.6 mm/year and 4.1 mm/year respectively, compared to the sea level on the coasts of the Mediterranean, which rises to 2.9 mm/year, a value lower than the global average.

With regard to rainfall, he indicated that it is higher than normal with floods occurring in the Sahel, the Rift Valley, the Nile Basin and Northeast Africa, as well as in the Kalahari Basin and in the lower reaches of the Congo River. In the face of this, drought prevailed on the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea, in northwestern Africa and along the southeastern part of the continent. For its part, the drought in Madagascar has caused a humanitarian crisis.

Finally, a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) report estimates that adaptation costs in sub-Saharan Africa range from $30-50 billion annually over the next decade to avoid higher costs in the event of a disaster.

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