How Africa is bearing the brunt of a "climate injustice"

Little responsible for CO2 emissions, Africa must participate in the fight against global warming. But to do this, she lacks the means…

The Sharm el-Sheikh Conference on Climate Change (COP27) will only take place next November, in Egypt. In the meantime, voices are being raised to deplore the efforts Africa must make for a situation caused by America, Europe and Asia.

Indeed, Africans, who represent only 17% of the world's population, are only responsible for 3,8% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Despite everything, the continent is bearing the brunt of the consequences of climate change, with droughts or floods, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, and to the south of the continent, indicated already in 2014 Makhtar Diop, vice-president of the World Bank for the Africa Region.

In return, Africa is participating in the fight against global warming, for example with the Congo Basin rainforest, which sucks about 4% of global carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere each year, according to statistics. of the Central African Forest Initiative.

But fighting climate change has a cost above all. “At the same time, Africa is forced, with limited resources and a very low level of support, to spend 3% of its annual GDP to adapt to these impacts,” said Sameh Choukri, Egyptian Foreign Minister and President of COP27.

“Africa should receive 10 times the global climate finance it has received”

The diplomat deplores the "climate injustice" that the continent must suffer. But the pill, he said, would be easier to swallow if officials did their part. However, a good “number of developed countries have reneged on their commitments”, indicates the boss of the COP27 who warns: “There will be neither reprieve, nor plan B at COP27”.

Figures from the African Development Bank (AfDB) also prove the words of the Egyptian diplomat: in just two years, Africa has suffered 131 extreme climatic events, whether storms, droughts or floods. . The AfDB confirms that “the pressure climate change is placing on economies and livelihoods across the continent is disproportionately high and represents a climate injustice”.

Is there a solution to this situation? For the global institution, this requires financial “reparation”. The AfDB assures that “true climate justice suggests that Africa should receive nearly 10 times the global climate finance it has received in recent years”.

In other words, today we are asking Africa to make more efforts than it should, without allocating substantial budgets. A “climate injustice” which will have to be discussed at the next COP27, therefore.