How the West shirks its responsibility for Africa’s climate emergency

Africa is bearing the brunt of the global climate emergency. The UN says climate change threatens to expose over one hundred million vulnerable Africans to droughts, floods and extreme heat by 2030. One of the worst hit countries is Somalia. Almost 8 million people there, or about half the country’s population, are facing crisis hunger levels. The most affected area is the Bay region in the south. The UN says, barring a massive influx of assistance, that region is likely to see a full-scale famine in the coming months. Clearly to prevent such impacts of climate change in Africa, something needs to be done urgently. And industrialized countries need to fulfill their funding promises for contributing the most to climate change. That’s a point that was reiterated by Ghana’s president Nana Akuffo Addo earlier this week in Rotterdam. And that’s why earlier this week African leaders traveled to the Africa Adaptation summit in Rotterdam, Netherlands. But European partners did not turn up. And that was strongly criticized by African leaders.