African youths press for more climate adaptation finance ahead of COP28

By Ndi Eugene Ndi

African youths have raised their voices on climate action, calling on the international community to prioritise and increase climate adaptation finance flows to the continent by more than double at the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change set to unfold in Dubai by the month’s end.

Their demands are contained in “The Yaounde African Youth Call on More than Doubling Adaptation Finance for a Resilient Africa” – a position paper issued at the end of the inaugural Youth Forum on Adaptation Finance in Africa (YOFAFA 2023) that held in Yaounde from November 16 to 18.

The over 150 young leaders and climate activists from all the regions of the continent who took part in the three-day conference acknowledged the undeniable impacts of climate change in Africa, the growing adaptation finance gap, and the risk this poses to climate action on the continent and globally to highlight the urgency of increased ambition.

“We, African youths call on industrialised countries and other big polluters to roll out a blueprint at COP28 to increase annual adaptation finance flows to Africa by more than double by 2025, and move from pledging to start keeping their promises,” the young African leaders said in the document.

The youth-led process was convened by the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) and the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access (ACSEA), in partnership with the African Adaptation Initiative (AAI).

“Young people are not only most affected by climate change, but also the most innovative and creative in finding solutions,” said Dr Augustine Njamshi Executive Director of ACSEA.

Threats to human health

During their three days stay in Yaounde, the young people showcased practices and initiatives in adapting to climate change, engaged with policy makers and donors on how to increase financing and support for adaptation and mobilized their peers and communities to take action.

The devastating impacts of climate change – severe droughts, floods, reduced agricultural yields, food and water insecurity – have increased in Africa in the past years, according to the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI).

“These changes pose threats to human health and safety, food and water security, and socio-economic development,” Njamshi said.

The continent’s climate crises are however not of her own making as Africa contributes less than four percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but remains one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change impacts.

The Yaounde forum held barely two weeks after the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released its Adaptation Gap Report of 2023. The report shows adaptation globally is underfinanced and countries are underprepared to initiate adaptation actions.

In 2019 and 2020, only $11.4 billion was committed to climate adaptation finance in Africa, compared to the estimation that African countries will need $52.7 billion annually until 2030.

In Glasgow during COP26, industrialised countries pledged to double adaptation finance to developing countries from 2019 levels by 2025 in the context of achieving parity with finance for mitigation.

“Adaptation finance was roughly USD 20 billion per year in 2019. A doubling of efforts, as agreed in the Glasgow Climate Pact and reiterated by the G7 ministers, would bring adaptation finance into the vicinity of $40 billion,”the young Africans noted in their declaration, stating that the amount is still “far smaller than actual adaptation needs” reason they are calling for “more than doubling of adaptation finance”.

Youths have government support

The Cameroon Minister of the Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development, Hele Pierre who chaired the opening and closing ceremonies of the forum saluted the youth-led initiative saying young people are agents of change.

He said Cameroon is not a stranger to the effects of climate change.

“As a country endowed with a diversified ecosystem and rich natural resources, we face multiple challenges linked to climate change,” Minister Hele Pierre told attendees at the opening ceremony.

He said the forest which covers 40 per cent of the country’s total surface area and also home to half of Africa’s fauna species is under growing pressure due to deforestation while agriculture that employs 70 per cent of the population also suffers from the effects of climate change.

“Dear youths, you are not alone in the fight against climate change. You have the support of your governments, the civil society, private sector actors and development partners who share your vision and objectives,” Hele Pierre told YOFAFA 2023 participants.

The Yaounde conference was also is in line with the with pillar four of the AAI whose goal is to increase access to funding and mobilise additional support to enable the implementation of adaptation actions and approaches to address loss and damage.

The young African leaders’ common youth position on adaptation finance on the continent will be presented to stakeholders at COP28.