The African continent is expected to experience a climate-induced shift which may lead to increased poverty, fragility, conflict, and violence if left unattended to, World Bank warns in its latest report.
According to the bank’s groundswell Africa reports, released on Thursday, ahead of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26), the continent would be hit the hardest by climate change, with up to 86 million Africans migrating within their own countries by 2050.
The data on countries in West Africa and the Lake Victoria Basin show that climate migration hot spots could emerge as early as 2030, and highlight that without concrete climate and development action, West Africa could see as many as 32 million people forced to move within their own countries by 2050. In Lake Victoria Basin countries, the number could reach a high of 38.5 million.
The report show that slow-onset climate change impacts, like water scarcity, lower crop and ecosystem productivity, sea level rise, and storm surge will increasingly cause people to migrate.
It stated, “Some places will become less livable because of heat stress, extreme events, and land loss while other areas may become more attractive as consequence of climate-induced changes, like increased rainfall.
“Unattended, these shifts will not only lead to climate-induced migration, potentially deepening existing vulnerabilities and leading to increased poverty, fragility, conflict, and violence.”
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“However, efforts to support green, inclusive, and resilient development, could reduce the scale of climate migration by 30 percent in the Lake Victoria region and as much as 60 percent in West Africa.”
Commenting on the report, Ousmane Diagana, World Bank vice president for Western and Central Africa noted that as countries were experiencing rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, flooding, and coastal erosion, Africans will face unprecedented challenges in the coming years.
“This series of reports identify priorities for climate action that can help countries move towards a green, resilient and inclusive development and generate opportunities for all African people.”
Hafez Ghanem, World Bank vice president for Eastern and Southern Africa said, “Investments in resilience and adaptation can promote green industries, and when paired with investments in health, education, the digital economy, innovation, and sustainable infrastructure, they also have tremendous potential to create climate-smart jobs and boost economic growth.
“As part of this, a focus on women’s empowerment is critical to improve human capital and to reap the demographic dividend—significant aspects of building climate resilience in the years to come.”
The report however stated that the scale and trajectory of climate-induced migration across Africa will require countries to take bold, transformative actions which includes: cutting down of greenhouse gas emissions to reduce the scale and reach of climate impacts, investing in research and diagnostic tools is key to better understand the drivers of internal climate migration for well-targeted policies and investing in human capital to engage people in productive and sustainable climate smart jobs.
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