Outcomes of fighting the climate change crisis in Africa

Climate change is an issue every nation around the world should act upon to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the negative impacts of climate change.

Climate change is an issue every nation around the world should act upon to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the negative impacts of climate change. There are several advantages to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including economic development, improved quality of life, fewer catastrophic events, enhanced national and global security, and the most valuable outcome of the fight against climate change: reducing the burden on future generations. 

In 2021, the world began to notice an increase in the global mean temperature, which rose to 1.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and the entire world witnessed the negative effects of rising temperatures, such as drought, flooding, hunger, poverty, and the displacement of many people, so taking action was the main priority for all nations to combat the negative effects of climate change, and all the UN member states launched a 17-goal framework to combat the negative effects of climate change in 2015 as a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is a 15-year plan to achieve the goal. 

It has now been 8 years and less than a decade of action, so what have been the accomplishments since then? The most significant accomplishment was that every country on every continent began to take action and launch numerous awareness-raising initiatives and that the highest level of honorable achievement was to enlighten people with knowledge and good education, as well as how to start changing now for a better tomorrow. Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the climate crisis, with deepening cycles of poverty and fragility, but many African countries have begun to develop many eco-friendly, sustainable products. 

In South Africa, they have developed a new car wash system to save water, and it's 100% environmentally friendly with no water pollution. Another positive outcome of the fight against the climate change crisis occurred in Kenya, where the Kenyan government implemented a tree adoption scheme in 2018, in return, the country's natural forest cover has increased by 10% since the scheme started in 2022. All these actions and participation are meant to limit carbon emissions, create a better future for the next generation, and preserve our natural resources. Many projects in Africa for global warming mitigation and adaptation are related to sustainable agriculture, using renewable energy sources, and protecting natural forests. Financing an air quality management policy was one of the best solutions we found as Africans. Africa is the dumping ground of used motorcycles and cars in large quantities, that contributes significantly to the harm of environment and reduce the quality of air. 

Aside from that, conferences and awareness-raising school projects are currently taking place for our children and youth to become informed of their actions toward the environment and to acknowledge how to tackle and protect our planet from any harmful actions that may occur. We need to act as one; no matter where you are, how old you are, or what your job is, everyone is responsible for protecting the planet we live on because we only have one.

Edited by: Muhammad Abdullahi Ibrahim