Third Africa Climate Talks: Climate change, COVID-19 and development in Africa and its small island developing States(SIDS) – from vulnerability to building resilience

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc on economies, communities and ecosystems across the world. It has been described as a revelatory crisis, enabling us to see more clearly the crises that already were unfolding before the pandemic. Climate change, resource extraction, urban and agricultural expansion, and pollution have led to the loss and degradation of ecosystems and habitats. Biodiversity loss and ecosystem shifts have brought humanity into closer proximity with wildlife, thereby increasing the risk of zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19, which, according to the World Health Organization, made the leap from wildlife to humans, possibly through an intermediate species. The vulnerability to climate change is a reflection of wider development issues, including poverty; massive infrastructure gaps in various sectors (e.g., energy, water, agriculture, transport, and ocean-related facilities); low levels of institutional development; and overwhelming capacity constraints. Africa Climate Talks is a series of events to engage Africans from all spheres of life in a stimulating and wide-ranging discourse, informed by emerging common African positions on a range of pertinent issues affecting the continent’s development agenda, within the context of an evolving and complex global geopolitical landscape.