AI wants rich countries to pay for climate change disasters in Africa

Residents search for survivors after floods swept through Mai Mahiu, Naivasha, killing more than 42 people and destroying homes. [File, Standard]

Amnesty International (AI) wants the rich countries responsible for global warming to fully pay for the catastrophic loss of homes and damage to livelihoods by climate change disasters in Africa.

AI said the countries must agree at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, to fully fund African governments' adaptation measures to prevent further forced displacement, stop human rights violations, and help them achieve a fast and fair phase-out of fossil fuel production and use.

In a statement, Amnesty International Regional Director for West and Central Africa Samira Daoud said the countries must follow up on their agreement by urgently financing the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, the main international fund addressing climate change's unavoidable harms.

So far, the countries have pledged less than USD 700 million of the 400 billion dollars that low-income countries estimate they need for loss and damage by 2030.

Daoud noted that adaptation may cost USD 30 to 50 billion per year in sub-Saharan Africa alone and called on International financial institutions to ensure equitable distribution of the money to African countries based on need.

"African people have contributed the least to climate change, yet from Somalia to Senegal, Chad to Madagascar, we are suffering a terrible toll of this global emergency which has driven millions of people from their homes. It's time for the countries who caused all this devastation to pay up so African people can adapt to the climate change catastrophe," she said.

AI research shows that in every corner of Africa, drought, floods, storms or heat are displacing people within countries and across borders, resulting in human rights violations including loss of shelter, disrupted access to food, health care, and education, plus the risk of gender-based violence and even death.

Daoud said while African governments are responsible for protecting human rights during this crisis, they cannot adequately do so unless richer countries provide the funds.

She regretted that in Somalia alone, more than a million people have been displaced by drought and recurrent floods which have decimated farms, killed livestock, and destroyed houses, forcing communities already vulnerable from decades of civil war to flee to camps for internally displaced persons or to Kenya and Ethiopia.

Daoud observed that in coastal Senegal, rising seas have destroyed entire villages, forcing thousands of people inland where they suffer lack of jobs and shelter without adequate support.

In Chad, rising temperatures have pushed livestock herders to the country's southern agricultural regions to find grazing land and water, leading to deadly clashes with farmers in the absence of effective conflict management and support for both groups.

"A six-year drought in southern Madagascar has forced more than 56,000 Antandroy people off their ancestral lands to search for new land to settle, only to face a host of human rights violations in other parts of the country. People left behind struggle for food, water, and health care," she said.

She regretted that successive droughts in southern Africa have pushed people to the edge while in Angola, hunger has forced mostly women and children to migrate to Namibia in search of food, raising the risk of exploitation, trafficking, gender-based violence, and disrupted education.  

Daoud warned that in Namibia, half the population is food insecure, and the government has declared a drought state of emergency, as have the governments of Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. None of these countries have the money to address the drought.

"Across Africa, the worst effects of climate change are already here. Extreme droughts, floods, storms, and heat are destroying livelihoods and local economies and forcing more and more people to flee their homes. In every instance Amnesty International has researched, national governments do not have the resources to properly respond. The countries that caused these rapidly escalating unnatural disasters must foot the bill to address them," said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.

Chagutah emphasized that mobilising and providing the dollars needed is only the first step toward addressing the worst effects of climate change in Africa.

"The Fund for responding to Loss and Damage must equitably disburse the money so it reaches the countries who need it most, including through direct access by impacted African communities," he said

He said international financial institutions and lending nations must grant debt relief to African countries that request it to help them invest in climate adaptation measures that protect human rights.

Chagutah observed that in recent years, Ethiopia's government has spent three times to repay debt than on adapting to climate change. He said countries from Congo to Mozambique regularly spend far more on servicing debt than on climate change response.

"Given the scale of climate-induced displacement and human rights violations in Africa, half-measures and lip service are not enough from the richer countries who caused this crisis. However, commitments at COP29 to fully and equitably pay for loss and damage and adaptation measures in Africa are just the start. The countries responsible for climate change and international finance institutions, must follow through and deliver the needed resources. Africa cannot wait any longer," he said.