COP27; Ruto blasts west over delay tactics in tackling the global crisis
COP27; Ruto blasts west over delay tactics in tackling the global crisis in addressing climate change.
The global west has come under fire from President William Ruto for “skirting around issues and delay tactics” in addressing places like Africa that suffer the most from the effects of climate change.
According to the President, by 2050, climate change might cost African countries $50 billion a year.
This comes after a setback on Sunday when African delegates learned that a decision had been made to only consider the loss and damage as an agenda item “no later than 2024,” which involves debating whether wealthy countries, who are the main polluters, should compensate impoverished countries.
President Ruto while on Monday speaking to delegates attending the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt on behalf of African countries pointed out that the State of Climate in Africa report lays it bare.
“High water stress is estimated to affect about 250 million people in Africa and is expected to displace up to 700 million people by 2030. In the past 50 years, drought-related hazards have claimed the lives of over half a million people and led to economic losses of over $70 billion in the region.
More than 1,000 flood-related disasters were reported involving more than 20,000 deaths in Africa over this period,” he said, adding that the whole world is reeling from the staggering impact of climate change.
“The spread, scale, and frequency of disasters like hurricanes, typhoons, wildfires, and heat waves, melting sea ice and glaciers, droughts and desertification, floods and rising sea levels, in numerous regions of all continents, indicate that humanity is confronting unprecedented devastation on a global scale,” said Ruto.
Ruto said the Horn of Africa region, including Kenya, is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years. Two years without rain have visited misery to millions of people — 2.5 million livestock have died in Kenya this year alone, causing economic losses of more than $1.5 billion.
“Two days ago, we went to distribute food relief to 4.3 million affected Kenyans in an emergency programme that has forced us to re-allocate funds budgeted for education and health,” said the President.
Also read,
Ruto strikes deal with Australia to manufacture affordable fertilizer
Raila Joins Ruto in Egypt for COP27 as a member of the African Union
How Ruto spend an extra Sh130m on his swearing-in ceremony, report
Follow us
