ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Many poor countries in Africa are facing some of the harshest effects of climate change, including severe droughts, intense heat and dry land, as well as unpredictable rainfall and devastating floods. facing. Since many people are farmers, this shock exacerbates conflict and transforms livelihoods. In a warming world, that job is becoming increasingly vulnerable.
Climate change is at the root of the vulnerabilities faced by conflict-ridden countries in Africa’s Sahel region, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and northern Nigeria, experts say. According to the Global Commission on Adaptation, adapting to these challenges could cost up to $50 billion a year, while the International Energy Agency estimates that the transition to clean energy could cost up to $190 billion a year. We estimate that this could be an overwhelming cost for Africa.
Countries have limited budget space and borrowing more to finance climate goals will worsen their substantial debt burdens, African leaders say as they push for a rapid increase in financing. claims.
Some leaders say this week’s meeting between the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, will be a “good starting point” for dialogue on Africa’s fiscal challenges and its ability to cope with climate shocks. He suggested that he was deaf.
This comes amid criticism that lending institutions do not adequately consider climate change and the vulnerabilities of poor countries in their financing decisions.
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The New York Times opinion column by Kenyan President William Ruto, African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki, and World Commission Chief Executive Patrick Verkooijen, is a global ‘s financial system is “now outdated, dysfunctional and unjust”. About adaptation.
International financial institutions are “outdated because they are too small and limited to fulfill their mandate; the entire system is too slow and dysfunctional to respond to new challenges such as climate change; It is unfair because it discriminates against people,” the leaders said. I have written.
Climate finance for Africa has increased in recent years, with widespread recognition that the continent is least responsible for emissions but most at risk from climate change due to lack of funding and capacity to cope. There is. Major development banks are increasingly recognizing climate change as an economic threat.
At a panel discussion in Marrakech this week, IMF economist Daniel Lee said the IMF is “mainstreaming climate change in policy advice, capacity building and lending.” He did not elaborate on the size or breakdown of the funding.
Mr Lee pointed to an IMF program launched last year to help poor countries deal with issues such as climate change. Only one of his countries in Africa, Rwanda, received loans from the program, giving him $319 million over three years.
Experts, as well as African leaders, say climate funding for the continent is inadequate and that the Sahel region, which does not have stable and recognized governments and is largely led by military regimes, It is said that procurement is particularly difficult for countries.
“Reality is falling short of expectations,” said Carlos Lopez, a professor at the Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. “While the majority of funding goes to mitigation efforts, adaptation, which is a top priority for the continent, receives less attention and support.”
In Niger and northern Nigeria, where the leaders were ousted in a coup in August, thousands of hectares of arable land have been lost to soil erosion and desiccation. Idayat Hassan, a senior fellow in the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this is forcing farmers and pastoralists to compete for resources, reducing economic opportunities and encouraging recruitment into armed groups. Stated.
Irrigation projects are one way to adapt to climate change, but violence is undermining their gains as farmers, already facing declining yields, struggle to access farmland.
Ibrahim Audi, 58, a wheat farmer in Katsina State in Nigeria’s far north, said: “Besides the extreme heat and unpredictable rainfall, we also suffer from poor security because we often don’t have the opportunity to go to the farm.” It’s impacting,” he said.
Femi Mimiko, a professor of political economy and international relations at Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo University, said climate money going to Africa is “rather trivial and not something we should be celebrating at all.” Ta.
He added that the “challenge is huge” as the IMF and World Bank have strict financing conditions.
Additionally, climate financing for Africa will need to address the continuing debt crisis in many countries, López said.
Africa’s debt servicing is estimated to reach $62 billion this year, outweighing the costs for the continent to adapt to climate change, African leaders said in the column. The two leaders reiterated their call for a moratorium on external debt repayments at the Africa Climate Summit held in Kenya last month.
Another problem, experts say, is that leaders underestimate how climate change will cause violence and economic problems.
“National policies to address climate change are lax. There is little or no focus on climate change, and the relationship between climate change and conflict in the Sahel is underestimated,” Hassan said. . “Beyond the conflict itself and start prioritizing climate change as the root cause of the problems affecting these countries.”
In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, all ruled by military regimes, 16 million people need humanitarian assistance, an increase of 172 percent since 2016, and more than 5 million people face high levels of food insecurity, according to the International Rescue Committee. are doing.
Humanitarian organizations blame conflict and climate change for “creating an increasingly severe crisis” affecting agriculture, the main source of livelihood for much of the population in the three military-led countries.
“That fact alone would constrain illegitimate governments’ ability to not only meet funding requirements set by the IMF and World Bank, but also to access such support,” Mimiko said. Stated.
“So what we have to do is convince the military regimes, which are incapable of running these countries anyway, or twist their arms and convince them to commit to what I call timely democratization. That’s the thing,” he added.
