Although Africa is responsible for approximately 2 – 3% of all global emissions, it is the continent that is most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming. For example, it is already experiencing average temperature increases of 0.7°C with experts predicting this to rise in the coming years. This is coupled with the ongoing issues of uncertain rainfall which has affected communities throughout.

To address this, the UK government has announced a new commitment to tackle the issue Africa is currently struggling with, which includes an ambitious move to efficient low-carbon economies and identifying ways to develop resilience to these changing conditions.

The new aid package was announced by International Development Secretary Rory Stewart where he saw first-hand the impact that extreme weather is already having in Kenya and the rest of the continent.

Currently, Africa is suffering from a wide range of climate impacts, including increased drought and floods, for example in Loiyangalani, in 2017, the worst drought in five years affecting the lives of 2.7 million people, which left people and their livestock facing death and starvation.

If the current rates continue, Africa will face an even greater decrease in food production, floods, disease, and the loss of its vital ecosystems.

Despite the fact Africa as a continent is responsible for 2% to 3% of global emissions, it’s set to be the worst affected by the adverse weather conditions caused by climate change — like rising temperatures and uncertain rainfall.

African governments are too working tirelessly to address the issue and have embarked on a number of partnerships with regional and global institutions. They coordinate their regional positions and national policies on climate change through the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), whose secretariat is provided by the Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme, and promote projects and action plans which are related to climate change.

With the Earth currently heating up at rapid rates, Africa will arguably feel the strain of this more than the rest of the world, as it already struggles with water-deficiency, famine, AIDS, and other issues with many of the countries lacking the resources to curb the effects of global warming.