Representatives of the Economic and Social Councils (CES) of Africa announced, Tuesday, September 26, in Kinshasa the launch of an in-depth study on “climate migration” on this continent which, according to them, is experiencing the greatest impact of change climatic.
Projections on mobility in Africa indicate an “internal migration of around 86 million people by 2050 if no action is taken to reduce the impacts of climate change,” said Ahmed Reda Chami, president of the CES of Kingdom of Morocco and President of the Union of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions of Africa (UCESA).
The objective of this study is “to improve knowledge on the extent of climatic migrations and their consequences on populations, in order to be able to anticipate this migration and take it into account in development plans,” he said. he explained at the opening of the UCESA general assembly, which is being held over two days in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Around ten African countries are participating, as well as China and representatives of the European Economic Council.
“African solutions exist”
“Doing this study here, in the DRC, with the help of the World Bank, will allow you to adapt your land use planning policies, because you will know that population movements from this region to that region will be planned. “, said Mr. Reda Chami, addressing the Congolese Prime Minister, Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.
The study will then be generalized to all UCESA member countries. The consequences of decisions taken today “will be imposed on future generations,” declared Jean-Pierre Kiwakana, president of the DRC CES. “The destiny of humanity is at stake” now and “the DRC, with its basin, its forests, its peatlands, the mangroves, undoubtedly holds a large part of the solution, hence the interest in ensuring its stability” , estimated Mr. Kiwakana. The time is “no longer for speeches” or “for identity withdrawals, African solutions exist, we must promote them”, he said.
African countries are facing the effects of climate change. The latest floods in Libya, which caused thousands of deaths after the passage of Cyclone Daniel, just like those which caused nearly 400 deaths in May in the DRC, were given as an example at the Kinshasa meeting.