Climate Change: Africa
The world’s major contributors to increasing greenhouse gas emissions can sometimes slip by the consequences of climate change. On the flip side of this phenomenon are the regions that produce the least amount of greenhouse gases yet suffer from the domino effect of problems that the climate emergency has triggered. Africa is a largely developing continent with millions of people at-risk of food, water, health, and cultural losses as a result of the global climate crisis. Not only are human lives on the line, but significant economic repercussions are already required to restore these livelihoods.
When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, Africa has played a minimal role in its industrial contributions. Africa emits 2 percent of carbon emissions compared to 26 percent by Europe and the U.S. each (46-47). Looking at the numbers, the overwhelming majority of African countries produce less than 50 million tonnes of CO₂, compared to over 1 billion tonnes in North America and Asia (49). This disproportionate ratio of emissions compared to that of largely developed regions is also reflected in Africa’s methane emissions. Methane is “25 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere” (50-51), making it even more crucial to keep emission levels down. Africa also uses less transportation than the global north (53) and has minimal agricultural emissions, although it depends on agriculture as 20 percent of its GDP (55). However, “About a quarter of the carbon released into the atmosphere over the last 150 years has arisen from a change in the way land is used,” and deforestation beginning in the 1950s in Africa “has released large amounts of carbon, as have farming practices in dry regions, such as in west and east Africa” (56). In other words, although African countries have not majorly contributed to industrial greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation for agriculture has released carbon from natural sinks in substantial quantities. Without changing land use to replant forests and sustainably farm the soil, the net carbon emissions in Africa are around 1.5 billion tonnes. This falls between the U.S. at 500 million tonnes of carbon absorbed and Brazil and China, both emitting over 5 billion tons of carbon each (57).
The signs of climate change are clear in Africa and becoming more of a threat. In Libya and Egypt, 100 percent of freshwater renewable resources have been withdrawn. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Sudan have withdrawn 40 to 90 percent of their freshwater renewable resources (62). In addition, river runoff has dramatically decreased in central Africa between 1948 and 2004 and is projected to continue to decrease in the north and south. Decreasing run-off is directly correlated to rising temperatures and less precipitation (63). This decrease in runoff and freshwater sources increases Africa’s dependency on food and water imports. As of now, an annual $7 billion investment has been called for to compensate for agricultural damage caused by climate change in developing nations (64). Not only is there a loss of a stable food supply, but “reduced harvests related to droughts, floods and fires” led to increased food prices, which “were one factor in the riots and revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011: the so-called Arab Spring” (64). The projected yield for the “most nutritionally significant crops” in west, central, and southern Africa is expected to decline with only east Africa having an increased yield (65). In terms of health consequences, Africa experiences the largest distribution of falciparum malaria than any other continent. While this disease has been projected to decline in a select handful of areas that are already affected, it is likely to spread to new regions in Africa by 2050 as a result of changing precipitation patterns (66). Finally, African cultural pieces are facing the threat of significant deterioration from coastal erosion due torising sea levels, such as “The monuments of Alexandria, including the 15th-century Qait Bey Citadel ” (73).
With Africa lagging behind in development and not having the resources to offset its carbon emissions from the degradation of its natural carbon sinks, it plays a backstage role in the climate crisis. Compared to the damage to food and water supplies, the health of its people, and the wellbeing of the culture, Africa is at a serious disjuncture with its role in climate change and the impacts it suffers. It can be concluded that climate change poses a severe, ongoing, and increasing challenge to Africa.
Works Cited
Dow, Kirstin, and Thomas Downing. The Atlas of Climate Change: Mapping the World's Greatest Challenge. Earthscan, 3007.
