Africa warned on climate change

2007-04-18 10:22

Johannesburg - African governments must act fast to prevent drought in the continent due to climate changes, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said on Tuesday.

A draft report released by the panel on the impact of climate change showed that between 75 and 250 million people in Africa would suffer from an increased water shortage due to climate change by 2020.

Researcher Dr Pauline Dube said the report also showed that Africans would experience severe food shortages due to decreasing fish resources in large lakes due to rising temperatures.

Dube said African leaders needed to implement adaptation methods to overcome these climate changes.

"These predictions show that adaptation should have started long ago as it is clear for everyone to see that climate change is occurring and starting to have major impacts," said Dube.

"If the current policies of our governments are not including these climate changes we need to change them so that we can adapt."

She said African leaders should not wait for the world to succeed in reversing carbon dioxide emissions, but should rather act now as Africa was already a semi-arid area.

"That is what is worrying us, Africa already has a water problem," Dube said.

- SAPA