Who are we!

African Climate Change (ACCREC) USA is a a non-profit, 501(c) registered organization and also fully registered United Nations climate observer organization dedicated primarily to preventing the emission of greenhouse gasses, environmental degradation, and climate change in Africa and the world.

The idea first started in December 2009 due to the inconclusive international climate change conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference, which was deadlocked mainly because the participants failed to reach an everyday standpoint, catalyzed the idea. Therefore, we have no choice but to seek a new beginning by bringing home a wave of changes to solve problems that remain a menace to the continent. The temperature increase is accelerating! Extreme weather worsens food insecurity, displacement, and conflict. Agricultural productivity is falling. Adaptation financing is insufficient. Losses and damages are rising. Early warnings must reach everyone! 

Africa is responsible for only a fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions but suffers disproportionately from climate change. According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), this harms food security, ecosystems, and economies, fuels displacement and migration, and worsens the threat of conflict over dwindling resources. The State of Change in 2022 report shows that the rate of temperature increase in Africa has accelerated in recent decades, with weather and climate-related hazards becoming more severe. Yet financing for climate adaptation is only a drop in the ocean of what is needed. More than 110 million people on the continent were directly affected by weather, climate, and water-related hazards 2022, causing more than US$ 8.5 billion in economic damages. According to the Emergency Event Database, there were 5,000 reported fatalities, of which 48% were associated with drought, and 43% were associated with flooding. However, the actual toll is likely to be much higher because of under-reporting. “Africa is responsible for less than 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is the continent that is the least able to cope with the negative impacts of climate change. Heatwaves, heavy rains, floods, tropical cyclones, and prolonged droughts are devastatingly impacting communities and economies, with increasing numbers of people at risk,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas. “There are big gaps in weather observations in Africa, and early warning services are woefully adequate. We are determined to close those gaps and ensure that life-saving early warnings reach everyone,” he said.

The report, produced jointly with the African Union Commission and the Africa Climate Policy Centre of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), was released during the Africa Climate Summit, which also saw the launch of the Early Warnings For All in Africa Action Plan. Kenya, hosting the summit, also released its State of the Climate in Kenya in 2022 report. “Africa, like other regions, has come to terms with the reality that climate change is already happening. Left untamed, the coming decades and years would easily be characterized by severe climate-induced pressure on the continent’s economies, livelihoods, and nature,” says H.E. Ambassador Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment at the African Union Commission.“Given Africa’s high exposure, fragility, and low adaptive capacity, the effects of climate change are expected to be felt more severely. She writes in the report that people’s health, peace, prosperity, infrastructure, and other economic activities across Africa are exposed to significant risks associated with climate change,” she writes in the report.

Agriculture is the mainstay of Africa’s livelihoods and national economies – supporting morethan 55% of the labor force. However, its agricultural productivity growth has declined by 34% since 1961 due to climate change. This decline is the highest compared to what other regions of the world have experienced. rojected annual food imports by African countries are expected to increase by about a factor of three, from US$35 billion to US$110 billion by 2025.

The level of loss and damage, and therefore the costs incurred, will depend on many factors, including the ambition of global mitigation actions and the level of investment in adaptation at the local level. In a 4 °C warming world, with regional solid adaptation, “residual damages” costs equivalent to 3% of Africa’s projected gross domestic product could be incurred annually by 2080.

The loss and damage costs in Africa due to climate change are projected to range between US$ 290 billion and US$ 440 billion, depending on the degree of warming, according to the UNECA’s African Climate Policy Centre.

Climate change and the diminishing natural resource base could fuel conflicts for scarce productive land, water, and pastures, where farmer-herder violence has increased over the past ten years due to growing land pressure, with geographic concentrations in many sub-Saharan countries, according to the report.

With an accompanying story map, the report results from a multi-agency effort. It includes input from the African Union Commission and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa and contributions from the African National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, WMO Regional Climate Centres, specialized United Nations agencies, the African Development Bank, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and numerous experts and scientists.

Key messages

Temperature: The average rate of warming in Africa was +0.3 °C/decade during the 1991–2022 period, compared to +0.2 °C/decade between 1961 and 1990. This is slightly above the global average. The warming has been most rapid in North Africa, gripped by extreme heat, fuelling wildfires in Algeria and Tunisia in 2022.

Rainfall: The Horn of Africa faced its worst drought in 40 years, with Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia being particularly hit hard. The “triple-dip” La Niña was a substantial contributor. Five consecutive failed rainfall seasons they reduced agricultural productivity and food security. In Somalia, almost 1.2 million people became internally displaced by the catastrophic impacts of drought on pastoral and farming livelihoods and hunger during the year. A further 512,000 internal displacements associated with drought were recorded in Ethiopia.

Many parts of the Sahel experienced significant flooding during the monsoon season, with Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and the southern half of Sudan mainly affected.

Tropical Cyclones: The South Indian Ocean experienced an active tropical cyclone season despite an unusually late start. In the first months of 2022, the Southern Africa region was hit by a series of tropical cyclones and tropical storms, leading to flooding and population displacement. There was little time for recovery between shocks in nations like Madagascar.

**Sea-level rise: **The rate of coastal sea-level rise in Africa is similar to the global mean value of 3.4 mm/year. It is, however, slightly higher than the worldwide mean along the Red Sea (3.7 mm/year) and along the western Indian Ocean (3.6 mm/year).

Climate Adaptation: In 2021, per capita carbon dioxide emissions in Africa were 1.04 metric tons per person, compared with the global average of 4.69 metric tons per person.

More than 50 African countries have now submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Agriculture and food security, water, disaster risk reduction, and health are the top priorities for adaptation.

Implementing Africa’s NDCs will require up to US$2.8 trillion between 2020 and 2030. The African Development Bank (AfDB) has doubled its climate finance to US$25 billion by 2025 and devoted 67% of its climate finance to adaptation, in addition to its effort to raise up to US$13 billion for its Africa Development Fund.