Africa’s first climate summit infographic
Graphic recent extreme weather events across Africa.
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CLIMATE

Africa holds inaugural climate summit

By Jordi Bou

September 4, 2023 - September 6, 2023 - The Africa Climate Summit brings together leaders from the 54-nation continent ahead of November’s COP28 meeting, to define a shared vision of green development in a region intensely vulnerable to climate change.

A focus of the Africa Climate Summit starting in Nairobi will be how the continent can adapt. Scientists say climate change is causing more intense and more frequent extreme weather events.

After three years of drought, more than 23 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia face severe hunger.

The long-awaited rains caused flash flooding in Ethiopia and Somalia in March, killing dozens and washing away homes, crops and livestock.

In 2022, the worst flooding on record in West and Central Africa, killed more than 1,500 people, displaced 3.2 million and destroyed crops across 1.6 million hectares in some 20 countries.

Cyclone Freddy, the longest-lasting tropical cyclone ever recorded, caused destruction across
Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar from Feb-Mar, killing over 1,000 people and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes.

The declaration, to be issued at the end of the Africa’s summit, will outline the continent’s position on issues ahead of the COP28 UN climate summit in Dubai beginning at the end of November.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 04/09/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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