Whatever your political persuasion, it’s hard to see Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord climate deal as anything but short-sighted and opportunistic.
According to a recently released report, Cape Town and Durban are now extremely vulnerable to the adverse effects of global warming.
Trump made the decision believing it will invigorate the US job market, but it has undermined the collective efforts of the 195 countries who’ve signed up to the accord in order to reduce emissions and preserve our already fragile environment.
The stats paint a desperately unfair picture, too…
Global warming has had a chaotic effect on Africa in the last forty years, and the whole continent is extremely vulnerable to climate instability. Despite only producing 3.8% of harmful gasses (compared to the 23% produced by China, and the 19% the US are responsible for), shifts in weather patterns have been directly linked to more than 2,000 natural disasters on the continent since 1970. Just under half of these have occurred in the last decade.
Africa contains 7 of the 10 countries considered ‘most threatened’ by climate change, according to the Brookings Institution. Extreme weather events like rising sea levels, increased temperatures, and hectic changes to rainfall patterns have caused irreparable damage across the region.
Durban and Cape Town have both been identified as being ‘at risk’ to these environmental changes, given their proximity to the coast and their increasing urban populations.
CPT is already dealing with the worst drought it has faced in over 100 years, with the Western Cape being declared a disaster zone in March. The Mother City’s exposure to wildfire has also been listed as a cause for concern, as weather systems continue their trajectory down an ominous path.
Elsewhere in Africa, sprawling metropolises Abidjan (Cote D’Ivoire), Lagos (Nigeria) and Der es Salaam (Tanzania) have been identified as ‘the three most vulnerable cities’ to global warming
The report went on to conclude that climate change is also affecting agricultural production and is contributing to food insecurity, environmental degradation, and unemployment.
Surely 195 other countries can’t be wrong?