African Leaders Push to Tackle Climate Change Impacts

Many African countries are feeling the consequences of climate change. The article discusses how the climate negotiators from African Union countries are dealing with how they may adapt to climate change that is occurring in their countries. THe issue is whether to focus on adaptation or to focus on mitigation. According to the World Resources Institute, The African continent only contributes 3% to the global greenhouse gas emissions. However it will be a region that will be most severely affected by climate change. The African climate change negotiators are particularly concerned with the fate of Africa’s forests, which account for 17% of the world total and helps absorb a great amount of global carbon dioxide emissions from polluting countries. According to the World Resource Institute more must be done to protect the forests by securing land rights for the communities that depend on the forest, and help manage them. Muyangwa at the Woodrow Wilson International Center’s Africa Program says that in order to help the climate impact on Africa, steps need to be taken to develop the necessary International Partnerships and garner the necessary resources to get the action that is required to better the situation. The whole issue of climate change is not restricted to Africa, in order to solve it, it will take the efforts of many other regions.