Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), has revealed that African countries, including Nigeria, cannot at the moment tackle climate change due to a lack of resources.
In a statement in which Adesina made this submission, the AfDB chief noted that the African continent was only able to secure 3% so far of global climate funding.
Adesina, however, disclosed AfDB’s plan to provide $12.5 billion to support the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP), a joint initiative between the bank and the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA).
According to Adesina, within a period of five years, the AfDB and the GCA seek to mobilise $25 billion under the AAAP initiative to accelerate and scale climate adaptation action across Africa.
“Africa does not have the resources to tackle climate change. The continent receives only three per cent of global climate financing. If this trend continues, Africa’s climate financing gap will reach $100 billion to $127 billion per year through 2030
“The current climate financing architecture is not meeting the needs of Africa. New estimates by the African Economic Outlook of the African Development Bank show that Africa will need between 1.3 and $1.6 trillion between 2020-2030, or $118 billion to $ 145 billion annually, to implement its commitments to the Paris Agreement and its nationally determined contributions,” the statement quoted Adesina as saying.
Why AfDB is investing in climate change
Increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food and water security, and socio-economic development in Africa.
“This report shows increasing climate change threats for human health, food and water security and socio-economic development in Africa. Because of this, we need accurate and current data for adaptation planning,” said Ovais Sarmad, the Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations (UN) Climate Change, as he reacted to a report.
