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Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System --------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 Mar 2007 Title: Climate change to hit Africa hardest --------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- By Vivian Warby The effects of climate would be felt globally, but would hit Africa, the continent with the least capacity to cope, the hardest. Speaking Wednesday during his visit to South Africa, Sir Nicholas Stern said Africa could benefit from global initiatives for clean energy investment, reduced deforestation and development of global public goods. The former World Bank Economist authored the 700 page Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change. He is also Head of the UK Government's Economics Service. African leaders, he said, had an important role to play in shaping the international debate. Costs of climate change could be reduced through both adaptation and mitigation but adaptation was the only way to cope with the impact of climate change over the next few decades, said Sir Stern. The report notes that while the most serious impact of climate change will fall on the poorest countries, the developed world will be far from immune. The study suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20 percent, but advised that taking action now would cost just one percent of global gross domestic product. Scientific evidence of global warming is presented in the report as overwhelming and its consequences disastrous. Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinhus van Schalkwyk said South Africa stood ready to take on its share of challenges as a developmental investment in future generations. "In South Africa, we are looking at ways of making climate change mitigation policies and measures part of a pro development and growth stratgegy for the longer term. "We understand the key message of the Stern report...the earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be in the long run." The minister had previously endorsed Sir Stern's report as a clarion call to all world leaders, especially those that still remained outside the Kyoto protocol's fold, to acknowledge that the overwhelming scientific and economic evidence of climate change required urgent action. "We have reached a point in the debate where the scientific and economic case is so persuasive that failure to act is both negligent and irresponsible," said Mr van Schalkwyk. The report warns that if no action is taken, floods from rising sea levels could displace up to 100 million people; melting glaciers could cause water shortages for one in six of the world's population and up to 40 percent of the world's wildlife could face extinction. Further to this, global climate change could result in droughts which would create tens or even hundreds of millions of "climate refugees." The report says that without action, up to 200 million people could become refugees as their homes are hit by drought or floods. The study is of great significance as it is the first major contribution to the global warming debate by an economist, rather than an environmental scientist. - BuaNews |
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