Browsing: Climate change

• Since late June, heavy rains have hit parts of Sudan, including South Darfur, Red Sea, River Nile, and Northern states, affecting around 500,000 people.
• In Chad, at least 340 people have lost their lives, and nearly 1.5 million people have been impacted, with over 160,000 homes destroyed by floods.
• Nearly a third of Lesotho’s population—about 700,000 people—are at risk of food insecurity in the coming months due to historic drought gripping the country.

Extreme weather patterns continue to batter Africa, plunging millions of people into a deepening humanitarian crisis. From the ongoing catastrophic floods in Sudan and Chad to the severe drought crippling Lesotho, and other economies in the southern Africa region the impacts of climate change are starkly evident across the continent.

As floods displace families, destroy homes, and disrupt agriculture, drought worsens food insecurity, leaving communities on the brink of disaster.

Sudan and Chad drenched by devastating floods

• Ahead of COP29, Africa’s climate finance strategy is based in three core pillars: scaling up adaptation funding, boosting mitigation efforts, and improving access to carbon markets.
• Without financial support, Africa could experience an annual loss of 5% of its GDP by 2040 due to adverse weather.
• While the stakes are high, populations across the continent will be watching to see how global powers will answer Africa’s plea.

As leaders from across the world ready to gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), Africa is rallying for a spirited push to secure climate finance deals at scale.

This agenda was unveiled at the 12th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa, hosted by Ivory Coast in Abidjan. This meeting was held on the sidelines of the 1oth Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).

Bringing together stakeholders such as …

• Tanzania e-waste is growing rapidly and Dar es Salaam is quickly becoming a major informal recycling site.
• The country’s predicament is reflected across East Africa due to exponential uptake of digital products, creating a scenario akin to Agbogbloshie, the infamous 20-acres e-waste dump in Accra, Ghana.
• Often referred to as a “digital dumping ground,” Agbogbloshie receives discarded electronics from various countries, including the United States and Europe.

E-waste and scrap metal are notoriously polluting the environment around the world and the worst hit are third-world countries, and Africa is at the top of the list. Take for instance the infamous Agbogbloshie, a roughly 20-acre scrap yard in Accra the capital city of Ghana.

Over the last decade, Agbogbloshie has become the symbol of this growing crisis, that is, export, dumping and trading of electronic wastes. And while this humongous dump site may be the biggest but it is far …

• Torrential rains have caused terrible floods in Kenya, causing the death toll to reach more than 200, and more than 280,000 people affected.
• Over the years, both governments in Kenya and Tanzania have struggled to finance disaster management systems.
• Tanzania’s commercial pulse, Dar es Salaam’s economy, and infrastructure suffer from frequent and severe flooding, and the situation will worsen without major interventions.

“Tomorrow I am turning 24, and in 2030, I will be 30; seeing all these situations (floods) puts me in a scary position for my future,” Jeffrey Mboya, a Kenyan climate activist, told CNN International correspondent Larry Madowo, as flooding destroys his community.

Lost lives, destructed communities, stranded tourists, broken bridges, and closed-off roads are currently becoming the new normal in Kenya and Tanzania as the two neighboring nations experience floods and cyclones.

Torrential rains have caused terrible floods in Kenya, causing the death toll to reach more …

• The urgency to transform African food systems is not solely an agricultural or economic imperative but a moral, social, and ecological one.
• Africa is confronted with a heavy crisis of malnutrition, poverty, inequality, and unemployment. Food affordability and access are unevenly distributed, and gaps widen even further.
• Improving the performance of the food system is critical if we are to sustainably feed nearly 10 billion people by 2050 while raising farmer incomes, protecting them from climate change, and helping them to thrive.

Africa, a continent of great potential, stands at a crossroads. Africa has most of the world’s most fertile lands, immense resources, and a growing young population. However, it remains paradoxically entangled in the danger of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Challenges such as climate change, post-harvest losses, poor farming technologies, and inadequate supply chains persist. The urgency to change African food systems is not solely an agricultural or economic …

• There is a debt crisis in Africa as countries struggle to repay international loans. 
• According to the World Bank, nine African countries entered 2024 in debt distress, with another 15 at high risk of distress and 14 more categorised as moderate risk.
• According to the United Nations, Africa’s public debt will stay above pre-pandemic levels in 2024 and 2025.

At 4 per cent, Africa is projected to be the second fastest-growing economic region in the world in 2024,  according to a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, behind the headline figure is a less optimistic reality.

Many African countries have suffered from slow post-COVID-19 recovery, climate change shocks, worsening food security situation, political instability, weak global growth, and high-interest rates. These economic shocks have pushed over 55 million people into poverty since 2020. The situation is increasingly alarming as more than half of the continent’s countries are in …

• Global verification body Verra certifies d.light’s clean cookstove projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria.
• Initiative to distribute 600,000 clean cookstoves, which are now verified by leading certifiers as a trusted source of high-quality carbon credits.
• Launched in 2022, these projects have already positively impacted over one million lives and are on track to transform the lives of three million people by 2025. 

d.light’s clean cookstove initiatives

In a landmark move that helps advance the journey towards sustainable development and environmental health in Africa, d.light, a firm that provides innovative solutions for low-income households, has achieved a milestone with its projects receiving certification from Verra as a trusted source of high-quality carbon credits.

This certification marks d.light’s clean cookstove initiatives in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda as crucial players in the voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), aiming to reduce carbon emissions, combat indoor air pollution, and curb deforestation.

Addressing environmental challenges, and earning

• Following a slow recovery from the debilitating impact of COVID-19, Africa’s economic growth declined to an estimated 3.8 per cent in 2022 and later deteriorated to 3. (https://rescueresponse.com) 3 per cent in 2023.
• Africa is not immune to economic shocks and has recently faced a multi-crisis situation.
• African countries have posted more than 5 per cent output expansions in 2024.

Africas economic outlook

Before COVID-19, Africa experienced 20 years of solid growth and made tangible economic and social progress. However, the COVID crisis brought this progress to an abrupt halt, and many countries, which are under increasingly tight budget constraints, struggled to invest in essential sectors amidst recovering from the aftermath of the health crisis.

Following a slow recovery from the debilitating impact of COVID-19, Africa’s economic growth declined to an estimated 3.8 per cent in 2022 and later deteriorated to 3.3 per cent in 2023.

However, according …

• Over a decade since gaining independence, South Sudan continues to be affected by fragility, economic stagnation, and instability.
• South Sudan’s economy is clouded by production bottlenecks in the oil sector, with production dwindling in the face of limited new investment.
• The susceptibility of South Sudan to climate change and natural calamities exacerbates the nation’s economic challenges, threatening the progress of growth and development initiatives.

The Republic of South Sudan emerged as the world’s newest sovereign state and the 54^th country in Africa on July 9, 2011. However, the progress of development post-independence was significantly hampered by civil war outbreaks in 2013 and 2016, which also aggravated the humanitarian crisis.

Over a decade since gaining independence, South Sudan continues to be affected by fragility, economic stagnation, and instability. Pervasive poverty is further intensified by ongoing conflict, displacement, and external shocks.

Crisis facing the oil and energy sector

Oil production is …

• Agriculture is one of the leading causes of climate change.
• Without action, emissions from food systems will rise even further, with increasing food production.
• Climate-smart agriculture offers a holistic approach to end food security.

It may surprise many that agriculture and its activities are, in fact, one of the leading causes of climate change. Agriculture is reported to be responsible for some of the highest emissions of greenhouse gases, making the sector one of the main contributors to global warming.

It strikes the environment with a double-edged sword, emitting greenhouse gases on one hand and destroying forests and marine ecosystems on the other.

According to the World Bank, agriculture is the primary cause of deforestation, threatening pristine ecosystems such as the Amazon and the Congo Basin. With the global population exploding, there is an inevitable need to increase food production, which can only be achieved by expanding agricultural activities.

This …