BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
Mitigating climate change is about reducing the release of gas emissions that are warming our planet. Mitigation strategies include retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient; adopting renewable energy sources like solar, wind and small hydro; helping cities develop more sustainable transport such as bus rapid transit, electric vehicles, and biofuels; and promoting more sustainable uses of land and forests.
About 1.4 billion people around the world rely on traditional fuels like coal and wood to meet their basic energy needs. This is not only harmful to the environment; it can also lead to premature deaths for millions of people, especially women and children. By 2035, global energy demand is projected to grow by more than 50 %, and even faster in developing countries. All these new consumers need clean energy that will not hurt them or the environment.
It is crystal clear that, Impacts of climate change on food security are global and local. Climate change will affect agricultural food systems in all countries, including exporters and importers as well as those at subsistence level. Changes in mean rainfall and temperate as well as the increase in extreme events will affect agriculture, livestock, forestry as well as fisheries. Many impacts, such as increased land degradation and soil erosion, changes in water availability, biodiversity loss, more frequent and more intense pest and disease outbreaks as well as disasters need to be addressed across sectors.
Ethiopia has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate variability and change, and is frequently faced with climate-related hazards, commonly drought and floods. The variability of rainfall and the increasing temperature were a cause for frequent drought and famine, and had a disastrous impact on the livelihood of the peoples.
At the national level, the World Bank suggests that climate change may reduce Ethiopia’s GDP compared to a baseline scenario by 2-6 % by 2015, and by up to 10 % by 2045. The most vulnerable sectors to climate variability and change in the country are agriculture, water and human health. To cope up with the effects of climate change, adaptation and mitigation measures are being practiced in the country.
At the higher level, the government has signed and ratified all the Rio Conventions, namely the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Protocol, the Biodiversity Convention and the Conventions to Combat Desertification. Following these, the government has initiated the Climate-Resilient Green Economy both to adapt and mitigate climate change. There are also different adaptation measures undertaken by different communities at different levels.
Of late, Addis Ababa hosted a three-day climate change and migration meeting that highlighted the impacts and proactive measures of climate induced migration in Africa that proves Ethiopia is committed to mitigate and adapt the impact of climate changes.
On the occasion, participants from various nations and development partners took part and confirmed to work in collaboration to address the impact of climate change. The meeting has got a title “Khartoum Process Thematic Meeting on Climate Change and Migration.”
According to the organizers, the meeting is aimed at addressing impacts and adaptation strategies for climate mitigation and designed to help fill knowledge gaps and to better understand the latest dynamics for a comprehensive coordinated action against climate induced migration.
Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Affairs State Minister, Tesfaye Yilma said concerted efforts are needed to mitigate or tackle the growing climate induced migration.
Fostering common understanding as well as designing adaptive strategies and jointly implementing the strategies are of paramount contribution to address the challenge, he added.
In this regard, Ethiopia is taking concrete steps to mitigate the impact of climate change on sustainable development, the state minister noted, adding that the country designed climate resilient green economy strategy aims at addressing the challenges relating to climate change while pursuing sustainable economic growth.
In practical terms, Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative launched in 2019 set an ambitious target to plant more than 20 billion tree seedlings in Ethiopia by 2022. This year the country surpassed that target by planting over 25 billion seedlings with a survival rate of 80 %, he pointed out.
Planting seedlings in Ethiopia is becoming a popular culture, he stated, calling for robust participation of partners in the Khartoum Process to support the initiative.
South Sudanese “Khartoum Process” Focal Person James Kur, appreciated Ethiopia for hosting the meeting and stressed the need for policy that should move in the direction of facilitating migration and ensuring it in a safe and orderly manner with rights of people on the move protected.
Kur added that insufficient knowledge and experience to develop a solid response to climate related human mobility are the main challenges that governments and regional organizations are faced in countries most affected by climate change.
According to him, one of the main challenges is the lack of empirical evidence that can explain to what degree where, why and over what period of time human mobility will take place and what future scenarios might look like.
Health Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development Division Head at African Union Commission, Mbokazi Sabelo said by the year 2050 about 200 million people globally may be forced to leave their homes due to climate related reasons.
Yet, climate forced mobility has so far limited attention, he added. This challenge has greatly impacted the socio-economic development of Africa and affected the food security of the continent.
The head stressed that the issue of climate related migration needs to get international attention and reaffirmed the commitment of the African Union to mitigate climate induced migration in collaboration with pertinent stakeholders.
Africa-EU Migration and Mobility Dialogue Senior Coordinator at International Center for Migration Policy Development, Zanette Monica reiterated the need to act jointly and pro-actively to address environmental and climate change issues in the most affected regions, including through adaptation to climate change such as sustainable renewable energies.
People are finding themselves unable to mitigate climate change for reasons such as insufficient financial means, lack of support network, social exclusion, limited political rights, and conflicts or geographic isolation.
They are becoming increasingly vulnerable as climate change related damages continue to undermine their livelihood, she underscored.
The conclusions and recommendations of the three-day meeting are expected to feed into the deliberations during the COP27, the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference to be held in November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 12 OCTOBER 2022
