Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

Climate change 'will hit Africa hardest'

http://www.guardian.co.uk

Urgent action must be taken in order to prevent Africa from bearing the brunt of global warming, a scientific conference on climate change was told today.
If current trends continued, temperatures in sub-Saharan Africa could rise by 2C with rainfall declining by 10%, according to Anthony Nyong, a scientist at Jos university in Nigeria. "There must be substantial and genuine reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by the principal emitters," Dr Nyong wrote in a paper presented to the conference, taking place in Exeter.

The event was called by the prime minister, Tony Blair, in order to stress to world leaders the importance of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Mr Blair has pledged to make Africa and curbing climate change the top priorities for the UK's presidency of the G8 group of the world's eight richest nations this year.

Dr Nyong said the G8 accounted for almost half the global carbon dioxide emissions in 1999. Scientists say carbon dioxide is a major factor in climate change, with most agreeing that much of it is caused by car exhausts and electricity generation. The US stands almost alone in the developed world, however, in disputing this human element in the phenomenon.

Full Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1404231,00.html)