The United Nations has release a new report, Africa’s Adaptation Gap. This recommends that African countries begin to introduce environmental levies in order to contribute to global climate change efforts.
This particular report was released at the 15yh African Ministerial Conference on the Environment. It follows in the footsteps of the UN Environmental Program’s Global Adaptation Gap Report 2014. It found that the cost of introducing the changes needed in developing countries in order to reduce emissions, could be as high as US$ 360 to 500bn per year by 2050.
The report warns that African countries are particularly exposed to potential infrastructure damage from global warming. An abitious program of damage limitation will be needed immediately. It states that “given the increasing severity of the adaptation challenge posed by climate change in Africa, no stone should be left unturned looking for solutions for closing the adaptation gap.”
The reports says that Africa will not be able to depend on global contributions in order to meet this cost. Governments need to consider methods of raising revenue. There are four potential options that the report considers. This is the mining sector, on financial transactions, trade or tourism.
It stresses the urgency of early action by the concerned nations.The UN doesn’t state anything that global warming is progressing more rapidly that previously projected. It states the following “even if such regional revenues were generated by the application of these levies, adaptation costs would exceed the revenue generation capacity as early as 2020.”
