07 Nov 2022

Africa and the developing world should equip young people with the necessary skills for advancing a climate-resilient development trajectory, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.

He said this when participating in a climate mobility panel discussion on the sidelines of the UN climate change conference (COP 27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt yesterday.

“Across the continent young people are advocates for the climate, stewards of the environment, and a critical workforce in urban sectors that hold the key to greater sustainability, such as transport and waste management.

Let us join forces with these young people and amplify their voices and innovations, not plan over their heads,” Dr Masisi said.

He called for the establishment of centres of excellence across the continent for research and development purposes in order to incentivize young people with technical and academic skills to remain in Africa.

Addressing the theme, Harnessing Climate Mobility for Adaptation and Resilience, President Masisi said information was key to addressing climate change forced migration.

Communities needed to be better informed on environmental conditions in order to plan better, he said.

“We need to make sure that African institutions and people have data and information to anticipate climate risks and bring state-of-the-art forecasting and modelling capabilities to the continent. If we want to reduce the harmful impacts of climate change, people and governments need time to prepare,” said Dr Masisi.

The President said data and forecasting made early warning systems possible which would empower African people to make necessary plans if they faced relocation.

“The absence of all of these makes the prospect of evacuation real with worsening weather phenomena. Governments can direct investments towards predicted growth areas, rather than wait for the spread of informal settlements that lack access to basic infrastructure and services,” said Dr Masisi.

The President said the world was lagging behind in meeting the Paris Agreement climate change mitigation commitments.

Increasing climate risks undermined infrastructure, agriculture and livelihoods, he warned.

Africa, he said, was highly affected by climate change challenges despite being a low emitter of carbon emissions and lacked sufficient resources for mitigating strategies.

Another panelist, Mr Ousimane Dangana, World Bank vice president for western and central Africa, commended President Masisi for his commitment to the utilisation of digital technology to address challenges such as climate mobility.

He said as a development partner, the World Bank was ready to work with African states to address the climate change effects.

Mr Dangana said water scarcity, droughts, desertification and deforestation led to forced migration.

He said the solution was to  ‘increase finance to help communities adapt and be more resilient, invest in climate adaptations, water management, health education as well as to ensure that the financing is in line with the principles of the Paris Agreement’.

Ms Amy Pope of the UN’s  International Organisation for Migration also called for the availing of up to date and relevant information to those forced to migrate by climate change.

A United States national who acted as climate change advisor to presidents Messrs Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Ms Pope stressed the need to develop strategies for equipping those vulnerable to the impacts of climate change with better agricultural techniques.

Communities should also be capacitated to respond to climate change impacts, she said.

Uganda  environment minister, Ms Beatrice Anywar, said climate change, which led to extreme weather patterns including prolonged droughts, landslides and floods had affected the reliability of water sources, created food insecurity and conflicts among communities as well as migration as humans and animals sought better pasture.

Africa needed to strengthen early warning systems, build resilient ecosystems, ensure planting of drought resistant crops to improve food security, promote climate change literacy and build the necessary policy legal framework to deal with climate change, she said. ENDS