Picture this: One billion people in a vast land experiencing food shortages, drought, flooding, water crisis, extended heat waves, extreme poverty, displacement and security threats. Terrifying? Well, those are not fiction, they are actually happening right now at a fast pace in Africa. 

Experts posits that despite being responsible for only around 3 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, Africa will be the region that would be hardest hit by climate change. A gloomy report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) reveals that, “Africa is warming faster than the global average, which is likely to bring devastating impacts, from extreme rainfall to drought to coastal flooding.”

The Africa Centre for Strategic Studies discloses that the average temperature for Africa in 2020 hovered around 1.2°C above the 1981-2010 average; while African countries within 15 degrees of the equator are projected to experience an increase in frequency of heat waves. 

In Nigeria, desert encroachment and unavailability of grazing lands have led to gruesome clash between farmers and herders. Luis Bazán, an independent researcher and analyst, based in Brussels, Belgium, in a report titled, ‘Working Document — Fulani Militias’ Terror: Compilation of News (2017-2020),’ revealed that farmer and herdsmen clashes cost the lives of 2,539 Nigerians in 654 attacks.

To halt the full manifestation of this apocalypse, the world is desperately turning to the path of green economy. Green Economy is defined by the United Nations Environment Program as low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive. According to the definition, in a green economy, growth in employment and income are driven by public and private investment into such economic activities, infrastructure and assets that allow reduced carbon emissions and pollution, enhanced energy and resource efficiency, and prevention of the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

As awareness grows about the devastating impact of climate change, many African countries are taking steps to take their place in the burgeoning green economy. 

To help African countries to adequately gain from this momentum of change to Green Economy, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) created a toolbox that can be used for integrating national strategies for a green economy into regional development plans. The toolbox was deployed in Ministry of Environment and Forest in Ethiopia, Environmental Protection Agency in Ghana, Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources in Kenya, Rwanda Environmental Management Authority in Rwanda, Namibia and Mozambique. The project, Operationalising Green Economy Transition in Africa, was facilitated by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

In the short term, African countries may need to make some sacrifices. But in the long term, the gains will overwhelm the pains. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the transition to low-carbon, greener economies is estimated to create 60 million jobs by 2030.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The International Labour Organisation (ILO) are providing African countries with support to make an evidence-based shift, with benefits for people and the climate. The UNDP and ILO’s intervention through a green job assessment model supported Zimbabwe and Nigeria to quantify how climate and green economy policies would affect job creation, including for women and youth, income distribution, skills development and economic growth in their context.

The process, according to report by Sangji Lee, Climate Policy Analyst at UNDP, has yielded some interesting and instructive results, with the modelling revealing very different medium- and long-term job growth implications.

The report further notes that in Zimbabwe, of the dozen climate investments and policy scenarios modelled – covering energy, industrial processes, agriculture and forestry – investments in conservation agriculture created up to 30,000 jobs for every million US dollars invested. This number stands in high contrast to only 100 jobs created for each million invested in a hydro dam and 25 in commercial solar.

In Nigeria, the report states that similar positives for green policies were found. Some 25,000 jobs stand to be created through public transport initiatives, and 12 million through a massive increase in renewable energy. Agriculture and forest-related policies were found to have the highest value for money, with water efficiency initiatives seeming to create more jobs for women in the long run.

This modelling should spur us to do more to create a vibrant Green Economy. This is where World Forum for Africa (WOFA) comes in. WOFA will drive the communication around sustainable infrastructure that would accelerate the transition to profitable Green Economy that would create jobs, reduce poverty and meet the target for net carbon neutrality in 2050.