Urgent action needed to tackle climate change as extreme weather catastrophes mount

Abstract

There is greater urgency for climate action in light of the severity, frequency and rate of climate-related disruptions across the world and in Africa, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary, Ms. Vera Songwe, said. In a speech read on her behalf at the first annual African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology (AMCOMET) Africa Hydromet 2017 Forum in Addis Ababa, Ms. Songwe said Africa’s capacity to meet such events with stiff resistance is limited due to the absence of information, climate smart infrastructure and relevant resources that can be readily deployed to insulate people, lives and livelihoods from such catastrophes. Climate change, Ms. Songwe said, offers Africa the opportunity to transition towards a development model that will foster growth, preserve the environment and offer opportunities to its people using a low carbon growth model. Climate resilience is not only a conduit for achieving Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda, the Executive Secretary said, adding ‘it extends the main tenets of these frameworks in its bid to thread economic growth and environmental preservation as the most vivid manifestation of our collective humanity’. Africa’s growth, she said, depends heavily on climate sensitive sectors and natural resources.