Africa bears an increasingly heavy burden from climate change and disproportionately high costs for essential climate adaptation, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
On average, African countries are losing two to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and many are diverting up to nine percent of their budgets responding to climate extremes.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the cost of adaptation is estimated to be between $30-50 billion annually over the next decade.
This represents two to three percent of the region’s GDP, shows the WMO State of the Climate in Africa 2023 report.
By 2030, it is estimated that up to 118 million extremely poor people—those living on less than $1.90 per day, will be exposed to drought, floods, and extreme heat in Africa, if adequate response measures are not put in place.
This will place additional burdens on poverty alleviation efforts and significantly hamper growth, according to figures cited in the report.
African countries need to prioritize increased investment in national meteorological and hydrological services and accelerate implementation of the Early Warnings For All initiative to save lives and livelihoods.
This will help mitigate risks, build adaptive capacity, boost resilience at local, national, and regional levels and guide sustainable development strategies, says the report.
It focuses on climate change indicators and impacts in 2023 – the world’s hottest year on record to date.
It supplements the WMO State of the Global Climate report and is one of a series of WMO regional reports which provide the observational basis to help drive action and support decision-making.
Said WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo: “Over the past 60 years, Africa has observed a warming trend that has become more rapid than the global average. In 2023, the continent experienced deadly heatwaves, heavy rains, floods, tropical cyclones, and prolonged droughts.”
“While many countries in the Horn of Africa, southern and North-West Africa continued to suffer exceptional multi-year drought, other countries experienced extreme precipitation events in 2023 leading to flooding with significant casualties.
In Malawi, Cyclone Freddy affected more than 2.2 million people in the Southern Region, worsening hunger and poverty.
Last rainy season, the region was devastated by drought caused by El Niño weather pattern that have left 23 of the country’s 28 districts food-insecure.
“These extreme events led to devastating impacts on communities, with serious economic implications,” said Celeste Saulo. This pattern of extreme weather has continued.
In 2024. Parts of southern Africa have been gripped by damaging drought.
She said exceptional seasonal rainfall has caused death and devastation in East African countries, most recently in Sudan and South Sudan.
“This exacerbates an already desperate humanitarian crisis,” said Saulo.
WMO, the African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology released the report on Monday at the 1 2th Climate Change for Development in Africa Conference in Abidjan, Cote d’lvoire.
The report highlights the urgent need for investing in meteorological services and early warning systems to help adapt to climate change and build resilience in Africa.
“As the impacts of climate change continue to manifest globally, the African continent stands at a critical juncture,” said Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, AU commissioner for agriculture, rural development, blu economy and sustainable environment.
Source: The nation-5 September 2024.