Friday, December 7, 2012

UNEP launches new initiative to support climate change adaptation in Africa

UNEP News Centre: From managing coastal erosion, to tackling pressures on food supply, a new initiative launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will aim to support communities across Africa in adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The Africa Adaptation Knowledge Network will serve as a hub for knowledge, research, successful initiatives, and collaborative partnerships on climate change adaptation.

It builds on ongoing efforts around the continent to mobilize existing knowledge and provide robust solutions to the major impact of climate change on lives and livelihoods in Africa.

Disasters such as severe droughts in the Sahel in 2012 and the Horn of Africa in 2011 have brought into sharp focus the serious impacts on water, land, soil, and other resources linked to climate change on the continent, and the need to build resilience to such pressures.

Warming in Africa is projected to continue to increase by 3-4oC over the next century. This poses a serious challenge to sustainable development, particularly as the economies of most African countries depend on climate-sensitive sectors such as water, agriculture, fisheries, energy and tourism.

Yet the region lacks the capacity and resources needed to face the challenges of climate change - a problem that could have major economic consequences...

Goats in the beach in Banjul, Gambia, shot by Niels Elgaard Larsen, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

No comments: