Climate change is a threat multiplier for African governments, says Bitsat Yohannes-Kassanun, Programme Management Officer (Energy and Climate) at the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa.
Yohannes-Kassanun said this on Wednesday during a webinar organised by Africa Renewal in the UN Department of Global Communications, ahead of the Climate Change Conference 27 (COP27) holding in Egypt.
The webinar was organised in collaboration with the Institute of Management Technology, Nigeria, Rutgers University’s African Students Association, USA, the Centre for Media and Peace Initiatives, USA and KCA University, Nairobi, Kenya.
It was themed, “The Role of the African Youth in Tackling Climate Change.”
According to Yohannes-Kassanun, climate change itself may not be a huge phenomenon seen forefront in the day-to-day lives of Africans but it escalates other burning issues.
She said that in order to be able to address issues on the front burner financially, Africa could not have adverse weather events that would destroy food and water systems.
“Our food systems our water systems are in threat because most countries get their electricity from hydropower.
“With drought, power generation will go down. That means economic activities will go down as well and this will have real, tangible effects on millions of Africans.”
This, she said, was the first part of the severity and intensity of weather events that were creating significant damage.
She noted that governments must be able to have more revenue to address some of the pending issues, adding that youths must equally be civic citizens and willing to carry out researches on climate change.
Dr Uchenna Ekwo, President, Centre for Media and Peace Initiatives, and an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University, said youths must recognise that climate change was a major threat to humanity.
According to him, it is critical for Africa to generate more awareness on climate change by discussing with students and institutions of higher learning.
This, he said, was because there was a lack of awareness about the impact of global climate change.
Ekwo further stressed the importance of research in order to shape better narratives for Africa.
“How can we develop more knowledge around this area, especially in Africa, where we wait for the West to dictate the pace of our search for knowledge?
“We ourselves are knowledgeable and can even invest in independent research to determine the impact of climate change on our environment.