Lhe most violent effects of the climate crisis are hitting a handful of countries where they are combined with serious conflicts and extreme poverty. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) witnesses this in many countries where it helps populations affected by wars. In these countries, climate change is synonymous with hunger, population displacement and increased conflicts over access to land and available resources.
An estimated 205 million people are today in fifteen countries that are both extremely climate vulnerable and affected by conflict. Eleven of these countries are in Africa. The African continent has contributed little to climate change, generating only 4% of global emissions, and East Africa, where the recently held [du 4 au 8 septembre, au Kenya] there African Climate Weekonly contributes to less than 1% of global emissions.
Yet countries in this region, particularly Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia, are among the areas most exposed to climate change and among those receiving the least international support under the climate action.
The holding of the United Nations General Assembly [du 19 au 26 septembre] must be a key moment to focus international attention on particularly vulnerable communities that have remained left out of global climate efforts to date.
Insufficient donor commitments
In East Africa, 76.7 million people suffer from acute hunger and Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia have experienced unprecedented drought conditions followed by severe flooding. If we add to this the consequences of the expiration of the agreement on Black Sea cereals, food insecurity risks worsening dramatically.
Unfortunately, donor commitments to climate finance for fragile and conflict-affected states are systematically insufficient. The commitments made last week in Nairobi, during Africa Climate Week, are symptomatic of the lack of investment in adaptation and resilience of the most vulnerable.
Most of the discussions focused on renewable energies, an obviously essential issue for the development of the continent, but, once again, the countries seriously affected by conflicts, that is to say the 10% of countries having experienced the highest number of violent incidents during the period 2010-2020, have been left behind and should only receive a fifth of climate investments compared to those intended for states spared from conflict. However, the needs of the populations there are at least as vital, and the delivery of aid is more complex and difficult.
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