Dakar, February 11, 2022 – At the start of his one-year term as President of the African Union, Senegalese President Macky Sall must seize the opportunity to unify the continent on climate action, says Greenpeace Africa.
Speaking for the first time as head of the African Union, Macky Sall mentioned protecting the environment only briefly in a list of the “many and pressing” challenges facing the continent.
Greenpeace Africa urges the new AU chair to make this a priority of his tenure, at a time when the African continent faces climate and biodiversity crisis, and when many governments continue to ignore looming catastrophe.
“Of course industrialized countries are historically responsible for climate change, but this crisis threatens all of us and African leaders have a shared responsibility to act now and protect their citizens,” said Dr Aliou Ba, Senior Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.
Many African communities are facing droughts, floods, loss of access to water and loss of livelihoods. Greenpeace Africa warns that these climatic phenomena and their impact on resources could soon become a source of violent conflict.
“President Sall must use his new role as the chair of the African Union to promote a pan-African response to the climate crisis, building on and expanding the African Union’s Agenda 2063,” said Dr Ba.
He concluded: “African nations must unite if we’re going to champion 100% renewable energy by 2050, combat desertification and overfishing effectively, and protect our continent’s natural treasures and biodiversity. And that means using instruments like the new UN oceans treaty and a permanent moratorium on logging in all tropical forests.”
CTA:Greenpeace Africa Newsdesk: [email protected]
Amagor Robert Niang, Media and Communications for West Africa , [email protected] , +221771834049
Discussion
Yes Africa Union must have none negotiable actions to help sort out climate crisis: 1. Renewable energy for all by 2050 or soonest. 2. Electric cars, buses and trains. 3. Policy on plastic full cycle handling. 4. Planting trees 5. Land use and degradation reversal.
Thank you for sharing with us. Agreed, we need sustainable methods to reduce the impact of environmental crises.