African nations push for funding to adapt to climate change
Battling droughts, sandstorms, floods, wildfires, coastal erosion, cyclones and other weather events exacerbated by climate change, the African continent needs to adapt, but it needs funds to do so, leaders and negotiators from the continent said at the U.N. climate summit
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Battling droughts, sandstorms, floods, wildfires, coastal erosion, cyclones and other weather events exacerbated by climate change, the African continent needs to adapt, but it needs funds to do so, leaders and negotiators from the continent said at the U.N. climate summit.
It's one of the main priorities for the African Group of Negotiators at the summit, known as COP27, currently underway in Egypt. Ephraim Shitima, the group's chair, said Africa is keen to see the outcomes of the negotiations translated into action for the continent where millions are facing climate-related disasters.
Shitima said the summit “should provide solutions to the millions of people in the continent,” adding that Africa needs finance to adapt to extreme weather as well as “to facilitate just energy transition and boost renewable energy uptake.”
A recent study released by the World Bank said that climate-related events will squeeze more than 132 million people into poverty worldwide with African countries losing between 10% and 15% of their GDP by 2050.
