How climate change is hitting Africa hardest
Seven stunning facts
THE climate crisis is code red for humanity, but especially so for the African continent. While it's contributed the least to climate change, Africa is being hit the hardest by its effects.
Increasing temperatures, a surge in natural disasters, locust invasions, floods, and drought.
It sounds like the stuff of nightmares. But these extreme events are happening right now as a direct result of climate change and they're threatening all areas of life across Africa.
Although climate change is affecting the whole continent, it's not affecting all regions in the same way. While millions of people are affected by flooding each year in Nigeria, rising temperatures in North Africa are leading to drought, which is devastating for farmers in the region.
Perhaps the most unfair fact about the entire situation is that Africa is responsible for less than 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — a minuscule proportion when you consider that the richest 10 percent of the world's population are responsible for over half of carbon emissions. Yet, Africa is the most vulnerable region in the world to the changing climate, according to the UN's Environment Programme.
Wealthier nations — which have contributed the most to climate change — have got to step up to support African countries in adapting to and planning for climate change, as well as paying for the loss and damage it's already incurred. Are they doing it? The short answer is: no.
Over 12 years ago, the world's richest countries promised to deliver US$100 billion every year from 2020 to 2025 to climate finance (money to help lower-income countries most affected by climate change adapt to its effects). But they've fallen short of their pledges, saying that the promised funding now likely won't be delivered until 2023.
Here are seven more devastating facts about how climate change is impacting Africa the hardest.
1. Almost a quarter of a billion Africans will face water scarcity
by 2025
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 3 people across Africa already face water scarcity. But by 2025, climate change could have made it even worse, with predictions that close to 230 million Africans will be facing water scarcity, and up to 460 million will be living in waterstressed areas.
2. Five of the 10 countries most impacted by climate change are
in Africa
According to the 2021 Global Climate Risk Index, which looks at the real-world impacts of climate change over the last year and the last 20 years, five of the 10 countries most affected by climate change in 2019 were in Africa.
Those five countries were: Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Sudan, and Niger.
3. Tropical storms in southern Africa displaced half a million people in just three months this
year
Warming of the oceans' surfaces from climate change is leading to more intense tropical cyclones— not to be confused with typhoons or hurricanes. These powerful storms with their gale-force winds cause floods, landslides, damage to homes and buildings, and even kill people.
4. 46 million people don’t have
access to enough food in the Horn of Africa & Sahel Region
The number of people living with severe hunger every day in the Horn of Africa is about 13 million, according to the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP).
In the Sahel region, the numbers are even worse, with an estimated 33 million people experiencing extreme hunger, according to UNICEF.
5. Hundreds of Billions of Locusts Swarmed East Africa in
2020
It sounds almost biblical but it's just another consequence of a changing climate: locust plagues.
Most of the time locusts travel alone, avoiding the heat. They need a unique combination of heavy rains and hot weather to gather in enough numbers to qualify as a swarm. But when they do, the consequences are deadly — an average swarm can travel up to 90 miles a day and destroy crops sufficient to feed 2,500 people for a year.
Unfortunately, this is the exact environment the climate crisis is creating in parts of Africa, particularly in the east, where the most recent outbreaks were the worst infes
tation for a quarter of a century.
6. 86 million Africans could be forced to leave their homes by
2050
Some 86 million Africans may be forced to migrate within their own countries by 2050 — that's about the entire population of Iran.
Climate change-induced migration is what happens when people are forced to leave their homes because of a sudden or progressive change in the environment that adversely affects their lives. For example, a prolonged period of drought might mean agriculture is no longer a viable option for a smallholder farmer, or a family's home might be destroyed in a flood.
When this happens, climate migrants often move to the nearest safe city or town — this is called internal climate migration and it's the most common type.
But often, they are simply moving from one poverty situation (rural) to another (urban). This is because up to 70 percent of the continent's urban population live in "slum" conditions — insecure informal settlements, sometimes without electricity, water, or basic sanitation.
Arriving in the city, these climate migrants generally take up residence in districts where locals already face high unemployment rates.
Many of the people already living in these urban dwellings see the climate migrants as encroaching on the already scarce resources, which aggravates tensions and can lead to violence.
7. One in three deaths from extreme weather happen in
Africa
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a third of deaths due
to extreme weather events over the past 50 years have occurred in Africa.
Flooding in Somalia, for example, accounted for the highest natural disaster death toll in Africa since the start of the 21st century — claiming the lives of over 20,000 people in 2010.
As young Nigerian climate activist Joy Egbe told Global Citizen: “We are speeding on the highway of extinction as humans.” With coordinated and drastic climate action, we can cut the climate-heating emissions that are devastating the African continent. But we must act now.
Take action with Global Citizen by sending an urgent message calling on the leaders of the world's wealthiest countries to help fund a sustainable future and deliver on their promise to help low-income nations — including those in Africa — that are already facing climate emergencies to confront climate change—Global Citizen