African countries least responsible for the climate crisis will have to spend up to five times more on adapting to global warming than on healthcare.
The analysis of 11 nations with a combined population of more than 350 million reveals the enormous financial toll of taking action to prevent the dire environmental consequences of global warming.
The international NGO Tearfund compared the plans drawn up by Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania and Sudan with their health budgets. Every nation is already suffering the effects of the climate crisis.
Chart showing climate adaptation costs for 11 African countries
Estimated climate adaptation costs for Eritrea amount to 22.7% of GDP, compared to 4.46% for health costs. Mauritania will have to spend more than four times more on climate adaptation than on health – 13.4% compared to 3.3%.
The analysis shows that the 11 nations are among the least guilty of emitting greenhouse gases that heat the planet. On average, they emit 27 times less per person than the world average.
Measuring Global Responsibility found that the US has caused more than $1.9 trillion (£1.6 trillion) in damages to other countries from the effects of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Adapting to climate change includes building higher seawalls, capturing rainwater for irrigation and switching to drought-tolerant crops. Sub-Saharan Africa already experiences a third of the world’s droughts and is extremely vulnerable to temperature and weather extremes due to its reliance on rain-fed agriculture, according to the International Monetary Fund.
East Africa is currently suffering its worst drought in a generation, with 20 million people at risk of severe famine.
Elizabeth Miendo, Tearfund’s Head of Disaster Management for Southern and Eastern Africa, said: “The hunger crisis in East Africa has shown the terrible power of the climate emergency. Acute malnutrition and the lack of clean water put an unbearable strain on hospitals and clinics.
“Whole communities have been forced from their homes in search of food, making them more vulnerable to disease outbreaks and without access to local health services… The climate crisis will only get worse and governments will have to find the money somewhere to help people adapt. I fear that key services such as healthcare will suffer unless rich countries deliver the climate finance they have promised.
Adapting to climate change was a key feature of the Paris Agreement in 2015. But a pledge made in 2009 by rich nations to provide $100 billion a year from 2020 to 2025 to help low-income countries to mitigation has not yet been fully implemented, the Report said.
At last year’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, countries agreed only to begin a two-year effort to set a “global adaptation target”, leaving further details unclear.
Rich nations have made new commitments of about $960 million a year, but the pledged sums are well below the $70 billion a year that developing countries are currently estimated to receive. The amount needed is likely to rise to $300 billion a year by 2030, the UN said.
Tearfund has called on the UK government, which is still president of the cops, to ensure that the promised $100 billion a year is delivered, with 50% earmarked for adaptation.
The UK government says tackling climate challenges is a top priority and that adaptation funding for many developing countries is insufficient. But recent comments by Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, suggest the government is diverting money that was previously earmarked to help prevent the effects of global warming to defense spending.
The report said: “It is a huge injustice that the impact and costs of the crisis are borne by communities who have the fewest resources to respond to it – and who did the least to cause it.”
Low-income countries receive only a tenth of what they need to adapt from international climate finance.
In many countries, communities are coming up with innovative solutions to reduce the impact of climate change, but lack the money to generate wider positive impacts.
The report highlights actions taken in southern Ethiopia, where more than 10,000 farmers practice conservation agriculture, which allows them to grow crops even in dry seasons, helping them adapt to more frequent and prolonged droughts.
Climate finance would allow these practices to expand to other areas, increasing resilience to a crisis that causes hunger and malnutrition, as well as loss of livestock and livelihoods, the report said.
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