Climate change hurts Africa most: scientists

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Africa contributes least to global
climate change, but is bearing the brunt of the phenomenon that
is expected to exacerbate food shortages in the long term,
scientists warned on Thursday.

Global warming has been blamed for increased cycles of
drought across Africa, where millions this year face hunger and
starvation.

Yet the world’s poorest continent has the lowest levels of
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, scientists
said at a conference in Nairobi.

“Poor developing countries are least developed to adapt to
climate change, although most of them play and certainly will
continue to play an insignificant role in causing it,” said
Shem Wandiga, chairman of the climate change research group
System for Research Analysis and Training (START).

Extreme weather patterns, caused by climate change and
leading to drought, will trigger deepening food shortages in
Africa where most people rely on rain-fed crops to survive,
Wandiga said.

“Climate change will exacerbate hunger, which now affects
about 50 percent of our population,” he said. “Above all,
climate change will worsen poverty on the continent.”

In the long term, climate change will force foreign donors
to pay more to feed Africa’s hungry and add to the current $6
billion spent by humanitarian agencies, Wandiga said.

A United Nations official said Africa’s many conflicts also
had a dire impact on the environment.

“The problems of refugees, the declining governance
structures in some countries continue to exact a toll on the
environment,” said Seko Toure, Africa regional director of
United Nations Environment Programme.