The World Bank’s new Groundswell Africa reports, released on October, 27, ahead of COP26, find that Africa will be hit the hardest by climate change, with up to 86 million Africans migrating within their own countries by 2050.
The forced migrations in West Africa and the Lake Victoria basin could start in less than a decade and then intensify if no concrete climate and development action get decided, according to the report.
People dependent on agriculture and fisheries, for instance, will move to more habitable areas to escape extreme conditions such as water scarcity, flooding, heat stress, and rising seas.
“From pastoralists traveling the Sahel to fishermen braving the seas, the story of West Africa is a story of climate migrants. As countries are experiencing rises in temperatures, erratic rainfall, flooding, and coastal erosion, Africans will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years,” stated Ousmane Diagana, World Bank’s Vice President for Western and Central Africa, in the World Bank website.
The report highlights that slow-onset climate change impacts, like water scarcity, lower crop, and ecosystem productivity, sea-level rise, and storm surge will increasingly force people to migrate.
“Some places will become less livable because of heat stress, extreme events, and land loss while other areas may become more attractive as a consequence of climate-induced changes, like increased rainfall,” says the World Bank’s Groundswell Africa report.
These migration shifts will, potentially, deepen existing vulnerabilities and lead to increased poverty, fragility, conflict, and violence, added the same source.
However, efforts to support green, inclusive, and resilient development, could reduce the scale of climate migration by 30% in the Lake Victoria region and as much as 60% in West Africa.
The Groundswell Africa series is a sequel to the 2018 Groundswell report.
They provide in-depth analysis on the potential scale and spread of internal climate migration in West African and the Lake Victoria Basin, to identify priorities for climate action and help African countries move towards a green, resilient and inclusive development.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.