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Climate change devastating Africa more, says Ethiopian president

Published 14th October 2010 - 0 comments - 1070 views -

By Ochieng’ Ogodo

 

[Addis Ababa] As much as climate change is a global phenomenon, Africa was feeling the heat more than any part of the world, Ethiopian President, Ato Girma Wolde-Giorgis, said while opening the Seventh Africa Development Forum.

He exhorted the world to recognize this as a reality and take actions to addres climate change concerns. “Failure to do so would mean serving injustice to millions of people in Africa, who by no fault of their own making are paying heavy price including loss of lives, as a result of impacts exacted by climate change,” he told attentive delegates.

The forum, with a running there of Acting on Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa, started October 12 and will end on Friday.

Throwing a challenge to the forum attendees, Wolde-Giorgis asked them to deliberate and take a hard look at issues to identify the needs and close gaps between rhetoric and tangible action on climate change adaptation and mitigation.

“The leadership of Africa at the highest political level is fully aware of the magnitude of the threat that climate change poses, and the urgent and decisive responses needed,’ he said

Without unity of purpose, Wolde-giorgis warned, Africa will not realise collective, meaningful and durable actions needed to counter climate change.

 He outlined these were the overriding considerations that guided African leaders to bold actions of forging a common African negotiating position for climate change negotiations and the establishment of highest level of political leadership; the conference of African Heads of State and Governments on climate change.

The forum, he stated, had provided a united political voice crucial in achieving optimal results in the global arena. It also provided effective mechanism for Africa to commit the industrialised countries to provide the finance, technology and capacity building in the continent needed to adapt to climate change and contribute to mitigation globally.

“Beyond providing finance, technology and capacity building support to Africa and indeed other developing countries, it is also important for industrialised countries to subscribe and adhere to ambitious cuts in green house gas emission. This holds key to forestalling a climate change related catastrophe on our planet,” he said.

In the opening remarks the president noted that whereas action and speed needed to address climate change seem overwhelming, Africa is not short of formidable group of people prepared and have already made heavy sacrifices to adapt and contribute to mitigation of climate change.

Such sacrifices include those of millions of mothers who watch and cling to their children succumbing to death due to famine and malnutrition because of frequent and severe droughts related to climate change, pastoralists across Africa losing their livelihoods and the private sector desperately in need of sustainable energy and technologies to keep their enterprise from collapsing.

There is also the faming community who has this as their only means of survival yet have been seeing drastic reduction in production the years.

“They represent millions in our world who yearn for a chance to live, succeed and prosper, even in changing climate,” he said.

And this, he pointed out, was the reality against which the forum will hold deliberations in the next three days.  The forum, therefore, should deepen Africa’s reach and mobilisation of governments as well as diverse range of actors in response to climate change.

It was also Wolde-giorgis position that it should deliver and equip these diverse allies on climate change action with knowledge, finance technologies and capacity for tangible on-the-ground adaptation and mitigation results as well as optimizing Africa’s opportunities including forest cover and water resources endowment in response to climate change.

 

Category: Climate Science, | Tags:



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