Africa fights climate change but already suffering

By Muchena Zigomo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Rising temperatures in Africa are blamed for droughts, floods and storms while the continent's fabled wildlife is struggling to adapt to shifting ecosystems that could lead to mass extinctions.

Scientists say Africa -- the world's poorest continent -- is already paying a high price for global climate change and must now figure out what it can do itself to slow the transformation.

"There has been an observable upward trend in temperatures in parts of Africa, for example in parts of eastern and central Africa and the (southern African) Cape area, as well as emergent water shortages in western Chad and Darfur regions," said Professor Bob Scholes of South Africa's Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research.

"Apart from these factors we have also witnessed an upward spread in bird and fish species, such as the savannah birds, which have migrated due to warmer temperatures."

Experts say global warming may be to blame for the gradual melting of snow atop Tanzania's famed Mt. Kilimanjaro, while Babagana Ahmadu, the African Union's director of rural economy and agriculture, says there is evidence that Lake Victoria, Lake Chad and parts of the Nile River are all gradually drying up due to warmer temperatures.

Harald Winkler of the University of Cape Town's Energy Research Centre said African countries could not wait to see if richer countries take action on climate change -- although Africa's own options were limited.

"While developing countries rightly point to the historical responsibility of industrialized countries, ultimately the problem will come back to haunt us," he said.

"Poor countries and poor communities are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change."

Activists say South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, has thus far failed to do much to address its own emissions problems, a poor example to other African countries.

It is rated as Africa's largest emitter of harmful greenhouse gases, with the International Energy Agency saying it released 318 million tonnes of carbon dioxide -- the major greenhouse gas -- in 2003.

South Africa says it is committed to the fight against global warming but the government's desire to ramp up economic growth has at times clashed with its environmental ideals.

The United States released 5,871 million tonnes during the same year.

NOT AFRICA'S FAULT

Scientists and international aid agencies say Africa's contribution to greenhouse gasses is "negligible" compared to that of other continents -- with the average African generating 13 times less in harmful emissions than the average North American.

But the continent has no time to lose to come up with a survival strategy.

Professor Bruce Hewitson, a specialist in climatology at the University of Cape Town, said many African countries did not have the cash to meet the emission reduction target of the 2005 Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

"The major challenge for developing countries is that they need more money and resources to help them fight the potentially devastating effects of climate change," Hewitson said.

The United Nations has already set up a Special Climate Change Fund to finance research, technology and capacity building to stem the effects in developing countries.

But experts say the fund has done little to address climatic effects in poor countries, leaving some African nations such as Kenya looking at grassroots approaches such as planting more trees in a desperate effort to slow rising temperatures.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned on May 4 that global emission of greenhouse gases, widely blamed for warming temperatures, would continue to rise over the next few decades -- spelling more trouble for Africa.

Close to 1.8 million more Africans are expected to find themselves without adequate clean water, leading to an increase in poverty and pandemics such as malaria and cholera as well as the spread of arid and semi-arid lands, hitting food production, the IPCC report said.

The IPCC said developing countries did have some tools to help fight climate change, including switching to gas from coal for energy generation and improved land management to increase soil carbon storage.

But with Asian giants such as India and China -- now expected to surpass the United States as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter -- Africa's future may lie in its ability to persuade developed countries to take more responsibility.