Africa worried about climate change

Environment ministers Wednesday sounded the alarm over negative consequences of climate change on Africa.

• Environment ministers from 40 African countries held an environment international conference in Algiers to figure out how to tackle climate change-related problems including drought and desertification.
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• “By 2020, about 250 million people will be deprived of water resources due to climate change,” said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on the sidelines of the conference.
• Environment officials in Africa estimate that over one million Africans suffer from “environmental catastrophe-related diseases” such as malaria.
• "Africa is the continent hardest hit by climate changes. It is also the continent that has benefited the least from the current negotiations on climate changes,” said Yvo de Boer.
• Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika urged for an African common fight against the phenomenon as part of environment protection.
• “Common fight to save our common future is not only a question of financial solidarity,” he said in a letter read by state minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem.
• “It’s also a question of fraternity between peoples and cultures,” he added.
• Africa is facing dangerous weather changes due to global warming while about three quarters of its people rely on agriculture.
• Experts estimate that the average number of food emergencies in Africa per year almost tripled since the mid 1980s.