Published on Tuesday, November 7, 2006 by the Inter Press Service
by Stephen Leahy
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Climate change will devastate Africa without substantial help from the world community, according to a new report released at the opening of a major U.N. climate change conference in Nairobi, Kenya Monday.
"Africa is the least responsible for climate change but will be hit the hardest," said Nick Nuttall, spokesperson for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
New scientific data shows that Africa is more vulnerable to the impacts than previously thought, Nuttall told IPS from Nairobi.
Seventy million people and 30 percent of Africa's coastal infrastructure face the risk of coastal flooding by 2080 linked to rising sea levels, the report found.
More than one-third of the habitats that support African wildlife could be lost.
Crop yields will fall due to warmer temperatures and more intense droughts.
By 2025, some 480 million people in Africa could be living in water-scarce or water-stressed areas.
"If Africa's weather gets any more fickle, then they are in very deep trouble," said Steve Sawyer of Greenpeace International.
Sawyer is one of 6,000 people in Nairobi attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
East Africa is losing the snow from its mountains like Mt.
Kilimanjaro, which means rivers and streams fed by these mountains are running dry.
Farmers will have to relocate and they need help right now, Sawyer told IPS.
"Climate change is underway and the international community must respond by offering well-targeted assistance to those countries in the front-line risked destruction," said Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP.
Africa is developing economically, building roads, railways and port facilities, but those have to be constructed in such a way that they will not disappear in 30 or 40 years because of the impacts of climate change, he said.
Those impacts could also devastate the world economy, the British government reported last week.
The world's economy could shrink by 20 percent in the worst case scenario, but Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief economist of the World Bank, found that major economic impacts are a certainty under all circumstances.
Scientists estimate that global greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions of 80 percent are needed before 2050 to avoid the worst and irreversible impacts.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, 25 developed countries, not including the U.S. and Australia, promised to reduce their emissions by five percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Delegates will be in Nairobi for the next two weeks for what is officially called the twelfth Conference of the Parties (COP 12) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the second Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP/MOP2).
They are hoping to keep moving forward with the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, but most importantly to find money for adaptation and to look at future ways of reducing emissions.
"The legal, moral and political obligations of the rich countries are clear: they must dramatically reduce their emissions and at the same time be prepared to provide massive support to help the poorest countries," Sawyer said.
Summarized by Copernic Summarizer
"Mwanzoni mwa wiki hii, ripoti ya ""Mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yataharibu Afrika bila msaada mkubwa kutoka kwa jamii ya kimataifa,"" ilitangazwa katika mkutano wa Umoja wa Mataifa wa mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa uliofanyika Nairobi, Kenya." "Afrika ndiyo inayohusika kidogo na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa lakini itaathiriwa zaidi, ""alisema Nick Nuttall, msemaji wa Programu ya Mazingira ya Umoja wa Mataifa (UNEP)." "Takwimu mpya za kisayansi zinaonyesha kwamba Afrika ni dhaifu zaidi kwa athari kuliko ilivyodhaniwa hapo awali, ""Nuttall aliiambia IPS kutoka Nairobi." Takriban watu milioni 70 na asilimia 30 ya miundombinu ya pwani ya Afrika wanakabiliwa na hatari ya mafuriko ya pwani ifikapo mwaka 2080 kutokana na kuongezeka kwa kiwango cha bahari. Zaidi ya theluthi moja ya mazingira yanayotegemeza wanyama wa mwituni wa Afrika yanaweza kupotea. Mavuno yatapungua kwa sababu ya joto la juu na ukame mkali zaidi. Kufikia mwaka 2025, watu milioni 480 hivi katika Afrika wanaweza kuwa wanaishi katika maeneo yenye upungufu wa maji au yenye shida ya maji. "Ikiwa hali ya hewa ya Afrika inakuwa mbaya zaidi, basi wako katika shida kubwa sana", alisema Steve Sawyer wa Greenpeace International. Sawyer ni mmoja wa watu 6,000 huko Nairobi wanaohudhuria Mkutano wa Umoja wa Mataifa wa Mabadiliko ya Hali ya Hewa. Afrika Mashariki inapoteza theluji kutoka milimani yake kama Mlima Mt. Kilimanjaro, ambayo inamaanisha mito na vijito vinavyolishwa na milima hii vinakaa kavu. Wakulima wanaohitajika kuhamia maeneo mengine wanahitaji msaada wa haraka, Sawyer aliambia IPS. "Mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yanaendelea na jamii ya kimataifa lazima iitize kwa kutoa msaada unaolenga vizuri kwa nchi hizo zilizo katika mstari wa mbele wa hatari ya uharibifu, ""alisema Achim Steiner, mkurugenzi mtendaji wa UNEP." """Afrika inaendelea na maendeleo ya kiuchumi, kujenga barabara, reli na vituo vya bandari, lakini hizo lazima zijengwe kwa njia ambayo hazitapotea katika miaka 30 au 40 kwa sababu ya athari za mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa,"" alisema." "Hatua hiyo ya kuharibu uchumi wa dunia inaweza kusababisha ""madhara makubwa,"" serikali ya Uingereza ilisema." Uchumi wa dunia unaweza kupungua kwa asilimia 20 katika hali mbaya zaidi, lakini Sir Nicholas Stern, mwanahistoria mkuu wa zamani wa Benki ya Dunia, aligundua kuwa athari kubwa za kiuchumi ni hakika chini ya hali zote. Wanasayansi wanakadiria kwamba kupunguza gesi za chafu duniani kwa asilimia 80 kunahitajika kabla ya 2050 ili kuepuka athari mbaya na zisizoweza kubadilika. Mkataba wa Kyoto ulifanya nchi 25 zilizoendelea, isipokuwa Marekani na Australia, kupunguza uzalishaji wa gesi ya moshi kwa asilimia tano kufikia mwaka 2012. Mkutano huo wa kimataifa wa kimataifa wa kimataifa unaoitwa COP12 unafanyika Nairobi, Kenya, na unaitwa rasmi Mkutano wa Tisa wa Vyama vya Mkataba wa Umoja wa Mataifa (COP12). Mkutano wa pili wa Mkutano wa Mkataba wa Kiwango cha juu juu juu ya Mabadiliko ya Hali ya Hewa (COP24) "Wana matumaini ya kuendelea kusonga mbele na utekelezaji wa Itifaki ya Kyoto, lakini muhimu zaidi kupata fedha kwa ajili ya marekebisho na kuangalia njia za baadaye za kupunguza uzalishaji wa gesi.""" "Mabavu ya kisheria, maadili na kisiasa ya nchi tajiri ni wazi: lazima kupunguza kwa kiasi kikubwa uzalishaji wao na wakati huo huo kuwa tayari kutoa msaada mkubwa kusaidia nchi maskini, ""Sawyer alisema." Imefupishwa na Copernic Summaryizer