Nairobi, Nov 07: The impoverished inhabitants of
Africa's poorest nations are most at risk from the effects of
climate change on the continent most threatened by global
warming, a study said today.
But the most vulnerable are the residents of the East and
Central African countries of Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia,
Eritrea, together with Niger and Chad, according to the
report by the international livestock research institute.
"The situation is alarming and not only in relation to
climate change," ILRI's Mario Herrero told reporters at a news
conference on the second day of a crucial United Nations
climate conference in Kenya.
"It is also alarming because of population density and
the degradation of natural resources," he said.
Of all the continents in the world, Africa emits the
lowest amount of the greenhouse gases blamed for global
warming. But it stands to sustain the most damage from climate
change and ILRI said the seven identified countries would be
badly hurt.
The study, "mapping climate vulnerability and poverty in
Africa," said small farmers who rely upon erratic rainfall for
crops in Chad and Niger in West Africa's Sahel desert region,
as well as the African great lakes states of Rwanda and
Burundi will suffer most.
The study found they were "most vulnerable" to global
warming based on a matrix that looked at infant mortality,
land degradation, renewable water supply, crop suitability,
governance, disease prevelance and public health.
It also found that eastern Africa's arid and semi-arid
lands, including large swathes of Ethiopia and Eritrea
occupied mainly by livestock-dependant nomadic Pastoralists,
are "highly vulnerable."
The study did not offer solutions to the problem, citing
a scarcity of historical climate data for the regions.
Bureau Report
