Africa

Climate-Migration Nexus Garners Attention at Africa Climate Week

Climate-Migration Nexus Garners Attention at Africa Climate Week

Mirroring increased interest in the media and even among the public at large, the link between climate change and forced migration received some high-profile attention during September’s Africa Climate Week and Africa Climate Summit, which ran concurrently in Nairobi in early September.

Perhaps the most notable development of the week was the signing of the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (KDMECC-AFRICA). 48 African nations have now agreed to adopt the declaration, which was first put forth in July 2022 and at the time signed by 15 states. The expanded consensus around the declaration represents a major milestone in addressing displacement as a result of climate change in the most climate-vulnerable continent in the world. Parties to the declaration commit to using a “human rights-based approach in the design and implementation of policies relating to the climate change-migration nexus.” 

Climate Change is Causing Increasing Levels of Floods and Landslides in Rwanda

Climate Change is Causing Increasing Levels of Floods and Landslides in Rwanda

Earlier in the year, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlined that globally, flood-related disasters have increased by 134% since 2000, and floods are now lasting 29% longer. In fact, it is projected that climate change will push 130 million people into poverty over the next decade, creating multiple development setbacks, while also forcing 200 million internal migrants by 2050.

Agroforestry and the Case for Centering Local Needs in Climate Resiliency

Agroforestry and the Case for Centering Local Needs in Climate Resiliency

Agroforestry involves a wide range of trees that are protected, regenerated, planted or managed in agricultural landscapes so that they interact synergistically with annual crops, livestock, and wildlife. Not only is agroforestry positioned to enhance general crop yields through regenerative farming techniques, but fruit and other trees planted can themselves be used to generate food and other commercially marketable products, such as timber, fodder for livestock, fuel, and medicinal herbs. By improving both food and economic security–arguably the biggest consequences of climate disruption and the greatest drivers of climate migration globally–agroforestry embodies adaptation in the most holistic sense of the term. Not to mention, of course, the mitigation objectives that can be achieved simultaneously. In fact, when done on a sufficiently large scale, carbon credits can be tapped to provide a direct source of finance to those communities leading the change.

Decade-Long Flooding of Kenya’s Lakes Has Caused Significant Displacement and Loss

Decade-Long Flooding of Kenya’s Lakes Has Caused Significant Displacement and Loss

Throughout the 2010s, the lakes in the region, which is Kenya’s portion of the Great Rift Valley, rose slowly, displacing tens of thousands of people. But in 2020 a particularly severe rainy season caused the flooding to accelerate. Lake Turkana, in the arid northern part of the country, actually swallowed a nearby lake altogether. Freshwater Lake Baringo, further south, flooded eight miles inland and moved dangerously close to a saltwater lake, which would have devastated wildlife in both, with an inevitable impact on the area’s tourism industry, largely centered around the saltwater lake’s famous flamingos. By some estimates, Baringo has risen at least 9 meters since 2013.

Latest IPCC Report Projects Climate Change Will Increase Migration Within Africa

Latest IPCC Report Projects Climate Change Will Increase Migration Within Africa

“By 2030, about 250 million people may experience high water stress in Africa, with up to 700 million people displaced as a result.” Seven hundred million people. For context the entire population of Africa is 1.4 billion. That means by 2030 half the continent of Africa could be displaced as a result of climate change.

This dire warning of displacement comes at a time when many African nations are already witnessing record breaking droughts even today.

Madagascar is Struggling Under the Weight of Climate Change

Madagascar is Struggling Under the Weight of Climate Change

Unfortunately for Madagascar, weather-related disasters aren’t the only challenges climate change poses. These back-to-back disasters come on the heels of one the worst droughts to hit the country in 40 years. The drought, which has primarily hit the southern part of the country, has placed an estimated 2 million in need of urgent food assistance.