ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - “Disasters, particularly related to hydro-meteorological hazards, extreme climate and weather phenomena are increasing across Africa. On average, Africa suffers approximately two disasters per week, 8 deaths per day,” said African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ambassador Josefa Sacko, at the official opening ceremony of the Ministerial segment of the 3rd Ordinary session of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment.

By all standards, the figures are alarming, and a timely call to action for African experts on Agriculture, Rural economy, Water and Environment, who have this week been meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The key objective of the STC is to review the relevant strategic goals, linkages, progress and pitfalls,and their implications on the achievement of the continent’s set goals as set out in various strategic documents such as the Malabo Declaration; the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the ten-year implementation plan of Agenda 2063.

The SCT, segmented in two parts; starts with technical work by experts followed a policy session attended by Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment.

Officially opening the meeting, AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ambassador Josefa Sacko underscored the importance of environmental sustainability as a cornerstone for promoting and ensuring food security in Africa.

“We have the honour and the arduous duty of promoting and ensuring food security and safety, climate change adaptation, resilience to disasters and droughts and environmental sustainability in Africa. Building resilience in arid and semi-arid regions of the continent and supporting land tenure reforms that specifically address the inherent challenges for women in particular are critical areas that we must address. It is also our mandate to assist Member States to rationally manage and utilize the vast natural resources of our continent ranging from fisheries, water, land, forests, wildlife and biodiversity,” said Ambassador Sacko.

Amid the climate crisis, building resilience is the buzz word globally. And for Africa, climate adaptation is not an option but a necessity due to the continent’s majority population’s dependence on natural resource sensitive sectors for livelihood.

“To ensure a coordinated and synergistic implementation of these programmes, we have developed a draft Strategy for the Division of Environment, Climate Change, Water and Land Management in line with AU Medium Term Plan to enhance resource mobilization and programme delivery. We are the flag bearer in the global environmental discussion, articulating African priorities and concerns and ensuring a fair deal for our continent especially in arena of climate change, biodiversity and desertification negotiations,” she added.

And to highlight the magnitude of the environmental challenge, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), reports that this year alone, over 45 million people across Africa, mostly in Eastern and Southern Africa, are food insecure due to prolonged droughts.

This came to light when the Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) and the UNCCD announced a partnership to support the development of financial tools to help Africa to adapt and become resilient to future drought and other extreme weather events.
And the AUC is not leaving disaster risk reduction to chance. According to Commissioner Sacko, it is one of the priority agenda for the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture.

“Cognizant of this reality, plans are ongoing to establish a continental early warning and preparedness system at AUC as a way of improving analysis and early-warning capabilities of weak countries with the support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO),” she disclosed.

Ambassador Sacko further highlighted other initiatives with regards to sustainable environment and natural resources management, which include the Great Green Wall Initiative, the Sharm El-Sheik Commitments on Water and sanitation, forestry and wildlife strategies as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation measures including the African Regional Programme on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Global Frame for Climate Services and the AMCOMET Strategy on Meteorology.

On the Agricultural front, the Commissioner gave progress review on the implementation of decisions and recommendations from the last STC in 2017, as well as highlighting programmes and initiatives, the most recent being the launch of the Campaign to ‘Retire the Hand held Hoe to the Museum,’ through promoting Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa (SAMA).

Following a request by the last STC, “We had worked assiduously with FAO, member states and several other stakeholders to develop the Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). This document that has ten priority elements was launched at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy in October 2018,” she said. “Efforts are now being made to disseminate this document and assist African countries to develop their sustainable mechanization strategies drawing from this Framework.”

And Chairperson of the STC and Minister of Agriculture of Burkina Faso, SalifouOuedraogo, highlighted the need for member states to operationalize the SAMA and support the continent’s zero hunger agenda.

Overall, the projected population growth which is set to hit 2.4 billion by 2050, is set to bring along an added task of doubling production to meet increasing food demand, coupled with rapid urbanization and changing food systems.  

Therefore, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which calls for enhanced agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food security and nutrition, economic growth and prosperity for all, still remains key in the realisation of Agenda 2063.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PAMACC News) - “Disasters, particularly related to hydro-meteorological hazards, extreme climate and weather phenomena are increasing across Africa. On average, Africa suffers approximately two disasters per week, 8 deaths per day,” said African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ambassador Josefa Sacko, at the official opening ceremony of the Ministerial segment of the 3rd Ordinary session of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment.

By all standards, the figures are alarming, and a timely call to action for African experts on Agriculture, Rural economy, Water and Environment, who have this week been meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The key objective of the STC is to review the relevant strategic goals, linkages, progress and pitfalls,and their implications on the achievement of the continent’s set goals as set out in various strategic documents such as the Malabo Declaration; the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the ten-year implementation plan of Agenda 2063.

The SCT, segmented in two parts; starts with technical work by experts followed a policy session attended by Ministers responsible for Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment.

Officially opening the meeting, AUC Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Ambassador Josefa Sacko underscored the importance of environmental sustainability as a cornerstone for promoting and ensuring food security in Africa.

“We have the honour and the arduous duty of promoting and ensuring food security and safety, climate change adaptation, resilience to disasters and droughts and environmental sustainability in Africa. Building resilience in arid and semi-arid regions of the continent and supporting land tenure reforms that specifically address the inherent challenges for women in particular are critical areas that we must address. It is also our mandate to assist Member States to rationally manage and utilize the vast natural resources of our continent ranging from fisheries, water, land, forests, wildlife and biodiversity,” said Ambassador Sacko.

Amid the climate crisis, building resilience is the buzz word globally. And for Africa, climate adaptation is not an option but a necessity due to the continent’s majority population’s dependence on natural resource sensitive sectors for livelihood.

“To ensure a coordinated and synergistic implementation of these programmes, we have developed a draft Strategy for the Division of Environment, Climate Change, Water and Land Management in line with AU Medium Term Plan to enhance resource mobilization and programme delivery. We are the flag bearer in the global environmental discussion, articulating African priorities and concerns and ensuring a fair deal for our continent especially in arena of climate change, biodiversity and desertification negotiations,” she added.

And to highlight the magnitude of the environmental challenge, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), reports that this year alone, over 45 million people across Africa, mostly in Eastern and Southern Africa, are food insecure due to prolonged droughts.

This came to light when the Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) and the UNCCD announced a partnership to support the development of financial tools to help Africa to adapt and become resilient to future drought and other extreme weather events.
And the AUC is not leaving disaster risk reduction to chance. According to Commissioner Sacko, it is one of the priority agenda for the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture.

“Cognizant of this reality, plans are ongoing to establish a continental early warning and preparedness system at AUC as a way of improving analysis and early-warning capabilities of weak countries with the support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO),” she disclosed.

Ambassador Sacko further highlighted other initiatives with regards to sustainable environment and natural resources management, which include the Great Green Wall Initiative, the Sharm El-Sheik Commitments on Water and sanitation, forestry and wildlife strategies as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation measures including the African Regional Programme on Disaster Risk Reduction, the Global Frame for Climate Services and the AMCOMET Strategy on Meteorology.

On the Agricultural front, the Commissioner gave progress review on the implementation of decisions and recommendations from the last STC in 2017, as well as highlighting programmes and initiatives, the most recent being the launch of the Campaign to ‘Retire the Hand held Hoe to the Museum,’ through promoting Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation in Africa (SAMA).

Following a request by the last STC, “We had worked assiduously with FAO, member states and several other stakeholders to develop the Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). This document that has ten priority elements was launched at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy in October 2018,” she said. “Efforts are now being made to disseminate this document and assist African countries to develop their sustainable mechanization strategies drawing from this Framework.”

And Chairperson of the STC and Minister of Agriculture of Burkina Faso, SalifouOuedraogo, highlighted the need for member states to operationalize the SAMA and support the continent’s zero hunger agenda.

Overall, the projected population growth which is set to hit 2.4 billion by 2050, is set to bring along an added task of doubling production to meet increasing food demand, coupled with rapid urbanization and changing food systems.  

Therefore, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which calls for enhanced agricultural transformation, wealth creation, food security and nutrition, economic growth and prosperity for all, still remains key in the realisation of Agenda 2063.

OPINION

In our beloved, land-locked nation of Zambia, the government has demonstrated encouraging foresight and pragmatism in guiding the country’s efforts to mitigate the causes of the climate crisis and, more relevant to low-emitting African states such as Zambia, adapt to the hazards it brings.

Although some of the world’s most powerful political figures are liable to deny it, we in Africa are living with the consequences of climate change every day in new ways. The impact is inescapable. Indeed, over the last several years, the 1.2 billion people living on our proud continent – the second largest population in the world – have suffered significantly the adverse effects of historic droughts, floods, storms and other severe weather events made ever more common by the warming of our planet.

The world’s climate scientists, economists, development specialists, urban planners, engineers and any number of other experts among society’s public, private and academic spheres agree that these unnatural weather patterns are, more likely than not, destined to become the norm in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

Their conclusion? Governments of the world must re-evaluate their national priorities, and allocate far greater attention and resources to adapting their respective economies to this new normal, a verdict that increasingly appears to be gaining traction.

This at least is the major takeaway from the recent 74th convening of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Here attendees focused nearly exclusively on climate change and how governments of the world can and should mobilise their political and economic resources to take action.

This, of course, is easier said than done. Sub-Saharan Africa needs leadership and international coordination on this issue, and both are in short supply.

The absence of urgency may be related to the fact that we are not the world’s worst polluters. Often discussed in recent years has been the region’s profound vulnerability to the hazards of climate change, despite being responsible for less than 5% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, and less than 2.5% of global cumulative CO2 emissions.

Yet it is we who are suffering. No one will soon forget the “Day Zero” water crisis in Cape Town that came after three years of drought. But the problems are diversifying in scope and range. Average climate change-induced temperature increases in the region are projected to be significantly higher than the global mean. And, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the same can be said for the duration, intensity and frequency of droughts and major storms, such as Cyclone Idai.

To make matters worse, while this alone is cause enough for alarm, sub-Saharan nations’ quickly growing population, insufficient infrastructure, lack of financial resources, institutional instability and over-dependence on industries highly exposed to climate change, such as agriculture and extractives, render the region ill-equipped to make the necessary adaptations.

Yet, against the odds, there are some exceptions.

In our beloved, land-locked nation of Zambia, the current government has demonstrated encouraging foresight and pragmatism in guiding the country’s efforts to mitigate the causes of climate change and, more relevant to low-emitting African states like Zambia, adapt to the hazards it brings. In an address to the legislature ahead of the UNGA earlier in September, 2019, President Edgar Lungu unveiled a sweeping plan for accelerating Zambia’s sustainable development that, among other things, is in line with the administration’s Vision 2030 development agenda, incorporates recommendations from the World Bank and other multilateral institutions, and has earned the approval of numerous civil society organisations, such as the WWF.

The timing could hardly have been more appropriate. The country’s agriculture industry, which contributes 19% of GDP and in 2017 employed 54.8% of the workforce, is facing a challenging period. Drought and weather changes have reduced harvests and strained electricity supply, and although we project a return of heavier rains in the near future, this is a situation we cannot allow to continue without determined action.

It’s understandable then why Lungu, with the support of government leaders from across the Zambian political spectrum, has made climate action one of his administration’s top priorities ahead of the next legislative session. The new climate agenda will build on government measures begun in earnest following a period of similarly adverse weather activity in 2016, particularly the 2017 National Climate Change Policy, which established a two-pronged scheme built on numerous complementary mitigation and adaptation strategies ranging from information dissemination to capacity building at every level of government.

The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) is among the stakeholders playing a part in helping the country respond to negative impacts of climate change. As the principal environmental regulator, ZEMA looks to benefit from the political will demonstrated by Lungu to acknowledge environmental management as a critical part of all development initiatives and activities. Climate change is an environmental issue and the path Zambia has taken is the right one.

But Zambia cannot do this alone. For that reason, the Lungu administration will keep its doors open to international investment in its renewable energy sector, working with global partners like the United States, the EU, Italy and Japan to modernise agricultural, water and disaster relief management practices, and will expand other existing engagements with multilateral institutions such as the Climate Investment Fund of the World Bank.

In Zambia, we are bringing together our best and brightest minds to debate the best and most feasible solutions. We are studying improvements that can be made in small-scale farming techniques and irrigation systems. We are looking at an accelerated installation of renewable energy systems, and we are examining food security resilience programmes, among numerous other proactive efforts to guard against the threat of climate change.

It is time for greater regional leadership on the climate change issue. We need strong voices to achieve determined action. If we don’t speak up soon, who will?

The author is Director General of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA)

OPINION

In our beloved, land-locked nation of Zambia, the government has demonstrated encouraging foresight and pragmatism in guiding the country’s efforts to mitigate the causes of the climate crisis and, more relevant to low-emitting African states such as Zambia, adapt to the hazards it brings.

Although some of the world’s most powerful political figures are liable to deny it, we in Africa are living with the consequences of climate change every day in new ways. The impact is inescapable. Indeed, over the last several years, the 1.2 billion people living on our proud continent – the second largest population in the world – have suffered significantly the adverse effects of historic droughts, floods, storms and other severe weather events made ever more common by the warming of our planet.

The world’s climate scientists, economists, development specialists, urban planners, engineers and any number of other experts among society’s public, private and academic spheres agree that these unnatural weather patterns are, more likely than not, destined to become the norm in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

Their conclusion? Governments of the world must re-evaluate their national priorities, and allocate far greater attention and resources to adapting their respective economies to this new normal, a verdict that increasingly appears to be gaining traction.

This at least is the major takeaway from the recent 74th convening of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Here attendees focused nearly exclusively on climate change and how governments of the world can and should mobilise their political and economic resources to take action.

This, of course, is easier said than done. Sub-Saharan Africa needs leadership and international coordination on this issue, and both are in short supply.

The absence of urgency may be related to the fact that we are not the world’s worst polluters. Often discussed in recent years has been the region’s profound vulnerability to the hazards of climate change, despite being responsible for less than 5% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, and less than 2.5% of global cumulative CO2 emissions.

Yet it is we who are suffering. No one will soon forget the “Day Zero” water crisis in Cape Town that came after three years of drought. But the problems are diversifying in scope and range. Average climate change-induced temperature increases in the region are projected to be significantly higher than the global mean. And, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the same can be said for the duration, intensity and frequency of droughts and major storms, such as Cyclone Idai.

To make matters worse, while this alone is cause enough for alarm, sub-Saharan nations’ quickly growing population, insufficient infrastructure, lack of financial resources, institutional instability and over-dependence on industries highly exposed to climate change, such as agriculture and extractives, render the region ill-equipped to make the necessary adaptations.

Yet, against the odds, there are some exceptions.

In our beloved, land-locked nation of Zambia, the current government has demonstrated encouraging foresight and pragmatism in guiding the country’s efforts to mitigate the causes of climate change and, more relevant to low-emitting African states like Zambia, adapt to the hazards it brings. In an address to the legislature ahead of the UNGA earlier in September, 2019, President Edgar Lungu unveiled a sweeping plan for accelerating Zambia’s sustainable development that, among other things, is in line with the administration’s Vision 2030 development agenda, incorporates recommendations from the World Bank and other multilateral institutions, and has earned the approval of numerous civil society organisations, such as the WWF.

The timing could hardly have been more appropriate. The country’s agriculture industry, which contributes 19% of GDP and in 2017 employed 54.8% of the workforce, is facing a challenging period. Drought and weather changes have reduced harvests and strained electricity supply, and although we project a return of heavier rains in the near future, this is a situation we cannot allow to continue without determined action.

It’s understandable then why Lungu, with the support of government leaders from across the Zambian political spectrum, has made climate action one of his administration’s top priorities ahead of the next legislative session. The new climate agenda will build on government measures begun in earnest following a period of similarly adverse weather activity in 2016, particularly the 2017 National Climate Change Policy, which established a two-pronged scheme built on numerous complementary mitigation and adaptation strategies ranging from information dissemination to capacity building at every level of government.

The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) is among the stakeholders playing a part in helping the country respond to negative impacts of climate change. As the principal environmental regulator, ZEMA looks to benefit from the political will demonstrated by Lungu to acknowledge environmental management as a critical part of all development initiatives and activities. Climate change is an environmental issue and the path Zambia has taken is the right one.

But Zambia cannot do this alone. For that reason, the Lungu administration will keep its doors open to international investment in its renewable energy sector, working with global partners like the United States, the EU, Italy and Japan to modernise agricultural, water and disaster relief management practices, and will expand other existing engagements with multilateral institutions such as the Climate Investment Fund of the World Bank.

In Zambia, we are bringing together our best and brightest minds to debate the best and most feasible solutions. We are studying improvements that can be made in small-scale farming techniques and irrigation systems. We are looking at an accelerated installation of renewable energy systems, and we are examining food security resilience programmes, among numerous other proactive efforts to guard against the threat of climate change.

It is time for greater regional leadership on the climate change issue. We need strong voices to achieve determined action. If we don’t speak up soon, who will?

The author is Director General of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA)