The Chairman of the African Union (AU) and Head of State of Senegal, Macky Sall, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, and several Heads of State present at the Adaptation Summit from Africa to climate change, held Monday, September 5 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, strongly denounced the absence of leaders of Western countries at this meeting.
“I cannot fail to note with bitterness the absence of the leaders of the industrialized world (…) We made the effort to leave Africa to come to Rotterdam and they are absent from this room when it was certainly easier for them to move », launched Macky Sall in his speech given at the opening of the summit.
He stressed that industrialized countries must “finance adaptation” since they are “the main polluters of this planet”. Just as he called out to the fact that « it is not only the fate of Africa that is at stake but also the fate of humanity and the future of the planet ».
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, regretted « the absence of the leaders of the industrialized nations as well as representatives of the private sector who are the biggest polluters ». According to him, “Africa is harmed by both climate change and climate finance. While it is estimated that it would need around 36 billion dollars a year to deal with the negative impacts of climate change, it only receives 6 billion”.
For his part, Moussa Faki Mahamat indicated that “our countries are already forced to devote between 2% and 5% of their GDP to deal with a problem that they did not create. They receive an insignificant share of international funding. This is one of the most shocking injustices against the continent”.
Far from relying exclusively on industrialized countries, “Africans are not begging or waiting. They put money on the table,” said AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina.
The Africa Adaptation Summit was organized by the Global Adaptation Center in collaboration with the AU, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Adaptation for Africa and the Climate Vulnerability Forum.
It comes as a prelude to the COP27 which will be held in Egypt within two months. According to a statement from the AfDB, the objective of this summit was to help increase support and resources for the Acceleration Program for Adaptation in Africa, which aims to realize the vision of the Initiative. for Africa by mobilizing $25 billion in investments by 2025 for climate adaptation in the areas of food security, resilient infrastructure, green jobs and climate finance.
Africa pays the heaviest price for global warming despite emitting less than 4% of global CO2 emissions.
By OMA Newsletter N° 845 of 06/09/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
