Africa urged to propose action on climate at conference

Africa’s nations must develop strategies to address climate change which poses an existential threat to the continent’s megacities, Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Adimba said at the third Africa Climate Week conference.

African officials and experts should sharpen the positions they will present at the 27th annual United Nations climate conference to be held in Egypt in November, said Bongo.

The third African climate meeting is bringing together more than 1,000 government officials and stakeholders in Gabon’s capital Libreville. They are working to form strong African regional climate responses.

“Climate change is a profound challenge in Africa and a great challenge of our time, amplifying existing social, political and economic inequalities,” Patricia Scotland, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth group of former British colonies, said to the meeting.

The African climate week comes as the continent reels by several extreme weather events such as drought in East Africa and the Horn of Africa,