The most industrialised African countries, such as South Africa, generate 8,44 metric tonnes per person, and the least developed countries, such as Mali, generate less than a tenth of a metric tonne per person.
By comparison, each American generates almost 16 metric tonnes per year. That adds up to the US alone generating 5,7 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year (about 23% of the world total, making it the leading producer), while Africa as a whole contributes only 918,49 million metric tons (less than 4%).
It is cruel irony that, in many experts' opinion, the people living on the continent that has contributed the least to global warming are in line to be the hardest hit by the resultant climate changes.
The critical challenge in terms of climate change in Africa is the way that multiple stressors — such as the spread of HIV and Aids, the effects of economic globalisation, the privatisation of resources, and conflict — converge with climate change.
A senior research fellow in sociology at the University of Oslo, Siri Eriksen, cited the example of the 2002 drought-triggered famine in southern Africa, which is affected millions due partly to populations' coping capacity being weakened by HIV and Aids. Read the full report here.
Source: News Day.
