African leaders vow to innovate solutions to global climate change disaster
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - African leaders have vowed innovative solutions to the climate change crisis facing the globe, insisting natural resources with the capacity to end global warming existed in Africa.
Speaking during the opening of the High-Level segment of the African Climate Summit, the first such Summit to be held by the continental leaders on the climate crisis, the leaders vowed to find solutions to climate change even if the world’s richest countries fail to reach zero greenhouse gas emissions.
“We should be open to the reality that none of the world’s industrialised countries would achieve the zero emissions target,” President William Ruto, Chairman of the African Union’s Committee of 10 African leaders tasked with negotiating an acceptable climate change pact, said on Tuesday.
The African leaders said innovation was necessary to deal with the crisis of high has emissions from the rich countries.
These innovative techniques should involve financial reforms and a continental response mechanism to climate disasters.
Such response mechanisms include having access to information such as predictions on when extreme weather events could occur with exact conditions and timeline.
President Ruto said African leaders were committed to finding and implementing policies, including the financing strategies required to deepen the fight against climate change and to find solutions.
The Kenyan leader said solutions to climate change lay in finding local solutions to climate change and attracting foreign and local investors to commit resources to effectively combat the climate disaster.
“We have the opportunity to forge a new route to economic inclusion. Our slow economic growth should not relegate us. Our untapped renewable energy potential confers on us the indefensible fundamental to become the next global manufacturing hub,” President Ruto said.
The Kenyan leader said addressing the climate change crisis would enable African countries to find solutions to some of their most pressing developmental challenges and to rise to the same level of prosperity with some of the world’s most advanced economies.
“The tragedy of the climate change disaster is that we are losing 5-15 percent of Gross Domestic Product on growth and adaptation. This is eating the capital that we require to develop,” Ruto said.
The Africa Climate Summit is taking place amid growing disasters which have hit several African countries, including Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which are still struggling with its adverse effects.
The Southern Indian Ocean was hit by hurricane Freddy, one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the Southern Africa region in March-May 2023.
Hundreds of people were killed and the economic loss caused by the crisis was estimated at US$655 million.
African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina, said the climate change threatened the future of the African youth, who were most affected by drought, leading to low income from economic activity.
The AfDB President said most African economies were unable to cope with increased risks caused by climate change threats. Adesina said the global community should dialogue on how the effects of the climate change could be best addressed through financial mechanisms.
-0- PANA AO/MA 5Sept2023
