Africa must learn to adapt to the world’s changing climate if lives and livelihoods are to be saved, according to a report on the effects of global warming on the African continent, writes IRINnews, Wednesday.
Many Africans could be facing severe hunger problems as extreme weather conditions on the continent deplete food production, says the new study focusing on climate change in the Horn of Africa and East Africa.
According to Mario Herrero, co-author of the report titled ‘Mapping Climate Vulnerability in Africa’, farmers will need help in adapting to the frequent droughts and floods that are expected to hit the arid and semi-arid areas in the region.
Speaking at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Nairobi, Kenya, Herrero said that smallholder pastoralists were the most vulnerable to the vagaries of changing weather patterns.
– Africa appears to have some of the greatest burdens of climate change and is also generally limited in its ability to cope and adapt. Yet it has the lowest per capita emission of greenhouse gases, he said.
The changing weather patterns and varying amounts of rainfall will also affect crop-livestock farming systems in Rwanda and Burundi, added the report commissioned by Britain’s Department for International Development.
– While a peasant farmer may not understand climate change, he appreciates that it is increasingly becoming difficult to time the planting seasons as rainfall is unpredictable, Beneah Daniel Odhiambo, a Geography professor at Kenya’s Moi University, said.
– As a result, there is high crop failure resulting in famine in many parts of Africa. Prolonged seasons of drought also cause the migration of people to other areas and is a potential source of conflict between communities competing for scarce resources, he added.
According to Herrero, efforts to reduce greenhouse gases must be accompanied by a quest to help poor countries adapt.
– People will experience great problems unless there is investment in adaptation options, he told IRIN, adding that water conservation projects in drought-prone areas could alleviate the problem.
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