Climate adaptation: Castle in the sky or achievable reality?

Imagine you are standing in the blistering heat in a field. It is in the middle of a drought, which used to be a rare occurrence, but now an almost yearly event. The crops you would have sold to pay for your children's education, electricity and other household expenses are parched and withering.

This scene, sadly, is a reality in many African countries today.

According to the State of the Climate in Africa 2021 report, disrupted rainfall patterns, vanishing glaciers, shrinking lakes and destructive changes to continental water bodies are destroying agriculture, ecosystems and myriad biodiversity. By 2030, water loss will affect 250 million Africans and displace an estimated 700 million more.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the increasingly frequent climate-related disasters are costing countries between $7 billion to $15 billion a year, with an estimated projection of these losses rising to $50 billion annually by 2030.

To adapt, African countries need to raise an annual average of $124 billion. Today, they are receiving only $28 billion a year.

While Africa is responsible for only about 3 per cent of global carbon emissions, it is being hardest hit by climate change. In its 2021 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed that the continent is warming faster than global average temperatures that could result in widespread devastating consequences. We need urgent and coordinated action to adapt to this prognosis.

Mitigation and adaption top the list of responses we can implement. Although related, they have distinct applications. Mitigation aims to lessen the severity of climate change effects by preventing or reducing emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Adaptation means adjusting to current and future effects of climate change, by altering our behavior, systems and - in some cases - our way of life.

With broad-based support, starting with leadership, climate adaptation for Africa is a real and achievable reality in our lifetime.

Adaptation: An analogy

Africa is much like a homestead, lush with greenery and an abundance of food where adults work diligently to provide for the young. In many families, work requires parents to be away from home for extended periods, leaving their children feeling alone and disconnected and the upkeep of their house neglected.

As their time spent at home decreases, these parents grow less aware of local threats. They are unaware of floodwater seeping into the...