African cities and climate change: the real debate is who should pay to fix the problem

Astrid R.N. Haas

For most city mayors and managers in Africa, the debate about whether climate change is real is a moot topic. They know it is.

They are on the front lines dealing with the impact of droughts, rising sea levels and floods, such as those in the Gulf of Guinea.

Cyclones are more frequent and intense. Cyclone Freddy, which hit Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar in June 2023, is an example. More than 1,000 people were killed.

Climate change’s impact on water supplies is particularly dire.

The first city in the world to nearly run out of potable water was Cape Town in 2018.

Like many cities in Africa, it draws most of its water from a rain-fed system.

This meant that its water reservoirs ran close to empty when the worst drought in over 300 years started in 2015.

For those responsible for running African cities, the climate