‘Africa Loses $15bn Annually To Climate Change’

Frank Annoh-Dompreh

 

Majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has stated that Africa loses between $7 billion and $15 billion a year to climate change.

According to him, it will be $50 billion a year by 2030 if mechanisms remain the same, adding that Africa doesn’t have access to the financing it needs to adapt to climate change and meet nationally determined contributions.

Making a statement on COP 27 and the future of sustainability on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, Mr. Annoh-Dompreh, who is also the MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, said by 2030, Africa will need about $1.3 to $1.6 trillion.

He indicated that the African Development Bank Group Acting Chief Economist and Vice President, Kevin Urama, had emphasised that Africa has been losing from 5 to 15% of its GDP per capita growth because of climate change and its related impacts, but needs about $1.6 trillion between 2022 and 2030 to meet its nationally determined contributions.

He disclosed that the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), by 2050 had also said climate change would lead to higher temperatures and mixed rainfall, leading to changes in crop yields and growth of the agricultural sector, higher food prices, less availability of food, and increased child malnutrition.

“Warming in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be higher than the global average, and many regions of the continent will get less rainfall,” he claimed.

He added that reduced rainfall would be particularly devastating in those countries that are heavily dependent on rain for agricultural production.

The MP noted that with Africa’s rate of population growth, food supply will be hard-pressed to keep up with demand, asserting, “Adaptation is Africa’s biggest challenge and the big question thus lies, how do you adapt to what you didn’t cause?”

“Mr. Speaker, in the years to come, preparing for the impacts of climate change, known as climate change adaptation, will be essential for African nations,” he stated.

According to him, UNEP’s Adaptation Gap Report 2020 found that while nations have advanced in planning and implementing adaptation projects, huge gaps remain, especially in finance for developing countries.

“One approach to adaptation which is rapidly gaining traction is: ‘nature-based solutions.’ These draw on the systems of the natural world to overcome the challenges wrought by climate change – and their benefits can be huge,” he intimated.

By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House

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