While the African continent is the one that emits the least greenhouse gases, these countries are among the most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.
The latter are exacerbated by the cyclical meteorological phenomenon El Nino which gives them an extreme dimension, this is particularly the case of tropical cyclones, which have become more frequent and more intense.
In January, Hurricane Belal hit Mauritius and caused considerable damage. Thousands of people are left without electricity.
More than 5,000 households were affected by Cyclone Gamane, which crossed Madagascar in March, forcing 20,737 people to move.
In May, coastal regions of Kenya and Tanzania were also devastated by Hurricane Hidaya. This tropical event highlighted the vulnerability of East Africa.
Cyclones are often preceded by heavy rains which cause flooding and landslides. This year Kenya but especially the Democratic Republic of Congo, already prey to conflict in its eastern region, were the scene of torrents which destroyed roads and homes.
In the Sahel, the rainy season scheduled from July to September was marked by heavy rains and floods, particularly in Sudan in August, and in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
2024 is the first year above the threshold of 1.5°C of warming, according to the latest report from the climate change service of the European Copernicus observatory published on December 9.
reports that the average temperature recorded since January shows an “anomaly” of +0.14°C compared to the same period last year.
In Zambia, the rainy season expected from October to March ended in January. Extreme heat leads to long periods of drought that affect not only food security, but also energy production.
In South Sudan, the mercury reached 45 degrees, the government had to decide for the first time to close schools due to a heatwave.
These significant changes in weather patterns have a severe impact on agriculture, on which 70% of the population of southern Africa depends for their livelihood. The region has experienced severe drought conditions, which has pushed millions of people into hunger.
For these reasons, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe declared their nations’ hunger crisis a national disaster last October. The WFP estimates that some 21 million children in southern Africa are currently suffering from malnutrition due to crop failure.
African countries lose on average 2 to 5% of their GDP managing extreme climate events.
At COP29 last November, developed countries, the main emitters of greenhouse gases, agreed on a new financing target of $300 billion per year by 2035, an amount well below the 1,300 billion dollars estimated by developing States for their adaptation to climate change.
