Climate Threats and Opportunities in the Horn of Africa
- Date:
Sharm El-Sheikh
Side-event in the margins of COP 27
Climate Change Impact in the Horn
From flooding in Pakistan to wildfires in Europe, the fallout of a changing climate is indisputable. Despite our efforts, climate emergencies will continue to increase in number and their impact will grow in severity. In Africa alone, Chad, Nigeria and Niger are experiencing significant flooding that has led to a dramatic increase in displacement. These impacts are further exacerbated in areas experiencing conflict and insecurity, but nowhere has the impacts of climate change been as devastating as the extreme drought plaguing the Horn of Africa.
Despite contributing the least to the global climate crisis—accounting for an estimated 0.59% of global greenhouse gas emissions—communities in the Horn of Africa are bearing the brunt of it. The region has become hotter and drier, and countries in the region report that occurrences of dry spells, seasonal droughts and multi-year droughts are more frequent than in the past, while also highlighting an increase in episodes of torrential rainfall.
Right now, communities in the Horn of Africa are facing the immediate threat of starvation, with forecasts indicating that the October-December 2022 rainy season is likely to underperform, marking the fifth consecutive failed season in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
What is needed now?
Given the predicted fifth failed rains from October to December 2022, and the forecasted possibility of a sixth failed rains in March to May 2023, this crisis will endure well into 2023. Yet, there are inadequate resources available for humanitarian partners to scale-up their response to meet the level and severity of needs. It is therefore critical that donors, governments and multilateral institutions come forward with an immediate and additional injection of resources in order to avert the worst of this catastrophe.
Steps must be taken to scale up the response, mobilize additional resources and to increase advocacy on behalf of affected communities in the Horn.
Objectives
This session will bring together speakers from across the humanitarian and development sectors, technical experts, local authorities and civil society experts to emphasize the urgent need for global solidarity in support of the Horn of Africa.
The session aims to:
- Raise awareness, re-energize partners and call for additional and new financial resources to respond to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa (humanitarian and development actors including Member States, NGOs, Civil Society and others)
- Discuss the ongoing challenges of climate financing and identify concrete ways to unlock financing tools, increase the flexibility of climate financing, and ensure that it reaches the most vulnerable countries, communities and individuals.
- Explore potential life and livelihoods saving-transformational adaptation measures from across the humanitarian and development and peace sectors to support resilience building and drought recovery across and within sectors.
- Identify concrete ways the international community can support effective response to humanitarian crises while also investing in mitigation and anticipation of increasing climate shocks and stresses.
- Explain how the international community can and must urgently invest in tackling the root causes of disaster and climate vulnerability and risk while encouraging locally led adaptation solutions.
Resources
Report: Climate Change Profile: Greater Horn of Africa