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Climate Change Hitting Africa's GDP


FILE: The carcass of a dead cow lies on the ground in the village of Hargududo, 80 kilometers from the city of Gode, Ethiopia, on April 07, 2022. - There had hardly been a drop of rain in Hargududo in 18 months then.
FILE: The carcass of a dead cow lies on the ground in the village of Hargududo, 80 kilometers from the city of Gode, Ethiopia, on April 07, 2022. - There had hardly been a drop of rain in Hargududo in 18 months then.

Africa is losing 5% to 15% of its per capita economic growth due the effects of climate change and is facing a gaping climate finance shortfall, according to the African Development Bank

Africa has been hit disproportionately hard by the fallout from climate change, which has aggravated droughts, flooding and cyclones across the continent in recent years.

To help mitigate the impact, African nations received around $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019, Kevin Urama, the AfDB's acting chief economist, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

But they are staring down a nearly $1.3 trillion climate finance gap for the 2020 to 2030 period.

"These sums reflect how the crisis is," Urama said. "Investing in climate adaptation in the context of sustainable development is the best way to cope with the climate change impacts."

African ministers meeting in Cairo last week ahead of November's COP27 climate summit decried the lack of support which they said had resulted in the continent benefiting from less than 5.5% of global climate financing.

Rich nations promised in 2009 to deliver $100 billion in climate financing to the developing world. But that pledge has only ever been partially met and is due to expire in 2025.

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