Poor funding hampering climate change fight – Diplomat

Lack of adequate funding to undertake extensive research has been identified as a major challenge affecting efforts at mitigating adverse effects of climate change in Africa.

Stakeholders have, therefore, called on governments to improve financial support towards the fight against the global threat with the hardest hit areas being Island nations and developing countries.

At the fifth Climate Change and Population conference on Africa held in Accra on Tuesday July 19, stakeholders called for greater commitment from the various stakeholders, especially government agencies.

Addressing participants, Moroccan Ambassador to Ghana Nezha Alaoui Hammdi said adequate funding could make the continent a better place. She later told Class FM's Ridwan Karim Dini Osman that: “Funding is always a major challenge for all our countries because it is not enough to identify the effects of climate change and not enough to identify action [to solve the problems].”

The three-day conference will also create a platform for deliberating on innovative discoveries, technologies, and techniques to help reduce deadly gas emissions and how Africans can contribute effectively to global debates on climate change. Policy Officer at the AU Commission, Nana Kyeretwie Osei, explained that Africa contributed only five per cent of global emissions yet the continent is experiencing the most devastating effects of climate change.

He advocated a scientific approach to the planning of cities on the continent to reduce the effects of climate change and also prevent the situation from worsening.

“We need to get solutions that are tailored for Africa. We have not really had the tradition of producing research that goes out in the international arena. A lot of the solutions are given to Africa by other people who are not Africans [or living in Africa]. We need to be able to speak from our experience when we go for international programmes from our own research and our own solutions,” he stressed.