MONROVIA – The vast majority of Liberian youth aged 18 to 38 are unemployed and unskilled. This constituency group makes up 65 % percent of the population and they hold 45 percent of the world’s rainforest that purifies carbon emissions created by industrialized nations.
The Youth Climate Change Preparedness Conference, organized in partnership by the National Climate Change Committee, aims to develop Liberian Youth With Climate Finance.
Africa owed a ‘debt of broken promises’ by developed nations despite the scale of existing and declared solutions, a sense of disappointment pervaded the African Adaptation Summit held in Rottenham by African Union leaders on September 9, 2022.
Participants were critical of the speed with which climate and financial pledges were delivered.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned that “the Glasgow Pact is at risk of failing” and highlighted that emissions only rising despite the Paris Agreement.
Yet, African leaders above all expressed regrets that key decision-makers – developed world leaders and the private sector – were not present. “The higher polluters would have immediate answers for us,” DRC President Felix Tshisekedi stated.
Mohammed added that “what is now at risk is that you add another debt to Africa – one of broken promises.”
Attending was Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo, Senegal’s Macky Sall, Dutch PM Mark Rutte and DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi at the African Adaptation Summit. From industrialised nations’ leaders, only Dutch PM Mark Rutte and the European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans show up at the summit in person. France, the UK and Norway are traditional donors. They sent their ministers for international developments as representatives. Danish PM Mette Frederiksen provided a prerecorded statement.
In total, the donors announced €55 million in new contributions:
African leaders were grateful for the contributions and stressed the importance of African unity. “I am convinced that those who are not here] will hear about the importance of this event,” President Tshisekedi asserted. GCA’s head Patrick Verkooijen expressed the need for “a much deeper conversation with the private sector on how we can bring them to the table” before COP27
Climate Justice Against The Cost-Of-Living Crisis
The attendees spoke in unison about Africa’s heightened vulnerability to climate change – despite the continent’s minuscule contributions to the crisis. AfDB’s Adesina highlighted that although Africa has emitted less than 3 percent of historical global emissions, 9 out of 12 countries most vulnerable to climate change are on the continent. This inequality is the foundation of African countries’ demands.
The leaders also highlighted the importance of timely adaptation efforts, which are not only climate justice.
Climate adaptation costs less than paying for the bills each time there is a disaster.
The promise to finance developing countries’ climate adaptation has been in place since 2009. During COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries to jointly mobilise $100 billion (almost €101 billion) a year by 2020 to respond to developing countries’ climate needs.
The Glasgow Climate Pact, signed last year at COP26 calls on developed nations to at most double their collective climate finance. The yearly funding gap, howeveer, will likely reach US$41.3 billion (€41.6 billion) by 2030 according to the Global Center on Adaptation.
Liberian people depend on subsistence agriculture for their living. The country is severely handicapped by a tough economy and is further aggravated by climate changes. Africa’s agricultural activity and associated productivity has been declining over the past decade.
This is due in large part to the numerous climate-related droughts that have hit African nations and other climate hazards. The planning of climate-resilient, low-greenhouse gas emissions activities has been a major step forward for African countries over the past 20 years to address climate-related challenges.
The continent is most at risk from climate change. Governments have made efforts to develop plans, strategic documents, frameworks, assassinations, and institutional settings to guide socio-economic development.
As of today, most countries’ plans fall short to support their preparation to global challenges related to climate change and SDGs. Conflicting urgencies continue to defy the priority of the climate change agenda.
These plans need to attract funding and investment at an appropriate scale, whether from domestic or foreign sources, in order to be implemented.
Source: New republic liberia
