The United Nations recently held a conference in Morocco related to climate change issues, and the location of the conference was very significant because Africa has become a bellwether for the rest of the world when it comes to climate change.
Desertification and water scarcity are continent-wide problems, as is rising sea levels, and these are impacting countries all over the continent.
What was different about this conference though, was that although organisers devoted an entire day to water issues, they concentrated on the importance of water as a tool to mitigate the effects of climate change, not on water as a casualty of climate change as most conferences do.
Benedito Braga, President of the World Water Council, said in a press release that, “While humanity experiences increasing demographic and socioeconomic stresses, recent episodes of extreme climate around the world bring additional complexities in finding solutions to reduce these stresses. Water is one of the most impacted resources, but water also provides solutions to these challenges.â€
In certain regions of the continent, hydroelectric power has already been successfully used to offset “dirtier†forms of energy generation. Tidal generation and water energy storage also hold great promise to the idea of seeing water as a climate change weapon not a victim of it.
Unfortunately many of the African countries are still not in a position to provide all their citizens with access to quality water and sanitary hygiene. The lack of infrastructure, the lack of funding to provide such infrastructure, and dealing with aging infrastructure that allows millions of litres of fresh water to leak out and be wasted are all problems that need to be attended to as a priority.
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the driest regions in the world, and most of the countries in this region have seen many droughts over the past few decades. More needs to be done by Africa as a whole to combat climate change.
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