Climate – COVID-19 Nexus Conference Opens in Addis

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Africa has negatively affected economies, regional integration, social cohesion and health systems within the countries in Africa. The African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals and other development goals and targets are under threat^[1]. If not effectively and efficiently addressed, the pandemic can result in internal tensions and conflicts in the AU Member States. To avert the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AU member states have adopted a strategy that is targeted at avoiding severe illness and loss of life from COVID-19 and reducing social and economic disruptions. This was further strengthened by the establishment of the Coronavirus Fund with pledges totalling USD 20 million. Most African countries have put in place Lockdowns, compulsory testing of suspected cases and contact tracing as they attempt to contain the virus’s spread.

Although COVID-19 has not spared any region of the world, there is little doubt that the poorest in the global south will be affected the most – due to weak and fragile health systems, poor and inadequate safety nets, as well as poor and often non-existent WASH facilities.

This is compounded by the fact that the poorest people often lack adequate capacity to anticipate and manage such shocks and already bear the brunt of several other challenges such as droughts, floods, landslides, locust invasion, water scarcity, deepening poverty, and inequality among others. Many African governments are struggling to fund their budgets and many are being chocked by heavy external debts. The outbreak is serving as a climate change threat multiplier, exacerbating the drivers of vulnerability on the continent, particularly persistent poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, poor resource management, conflicts, and weak infrastructure to deep mistrust between states and citizens. The outbreak will wipe out at least 30 million jobs on the continent and push down growth in many countries by an average of 2-3%, as estimated by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which has also indicated that US$29 Billion has been wiped off Africa’s GDP for the past three weeks. On 23 March 2020, African ministers of finance warned that Covid-19 has placed additional strain on already underfunded efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the continent’s Agenda 2063 targets.

Climate change and the spread of COVID-19 are mutually enforcing. Climate change-induced droughts and floods directly weaken clean water access and sanitation, which in turn limit personal and household hygiene and facilitate the spread of the Corona Virus.

The pandemic in reverse worsens the existing economic stresses situation in the African continent. The crisis has wiped out jobs and livelihoods especially, with tens of millions of people becoming unemployed since March 2020. Falling incomes and disruption to trade and transport have made food increasingly unaffordable for many people in these countries.

At the same time, a growing burden of unsustainable debt before the pandemic and reduced revenue for the developing countries during the pandemic has now become a major brake on public spending, placing public services including healthcare provision at much further risk. As the countries rush to recover from Covid-19, there is a likelihood that there will be a shift in focus from addressing climate change to economic recovery agenda yet the continent badly needs to continue addressing the climate crisis which remains a major challenge for the continent. It is imperative that efforts geared towards economic recovery should go hand in hand with climate change response strategies.

It is against this backdrop that PACJA is organizing a conference on the nexus between Covid -19 and climate change to be held alongside the 2021 African ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development conference in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The main aim of hosting this conference is to provide a platform for a diversity of stakeholders to reflect on the impact of Covid- 19 on economies and livelihood and how this link to climate change. The expected outcome of the conference is a clear proposal on how the Covid-19 response by the African government can incorporate climate response action since the continent is dealing with twin tragedies.

PACJA is also using this event to mark the International day of forests which is marked the world over on 21^st March 2021.

Main objective

The main objective of this conference is to create a forum where a diversity of stakeholders including African governments will engage in the integration of climate change responses in the post-Covid-19 recovery process for governments and other regional institutions.

Expected outputs

• A clear proposal on a roadmap on how climate change responses in Africa can be integrated into the economic recovery process in Africa
• Launching of a briefing paper to pan African parliamentarians on the placement of climate responses at the centre of efforts to reconstruct economies post Covid-19
• A statement on the role of climate finance on the covid-19 recovery process for African Nations

[1] https://www.nepad.org/publication/african-union-covid-19-occupational-safety-and-health-guidelines-series