“No Climate Change in Africa” — Tweep Claims
A Twitter link was shared with us by a WhatsApp user, and the post stated that ‘there’s no climate change in Africa”.
The link which we later established to be a comment by Jonathan Blair on a BBC News’ Twitter report about floods killing people in Congo’s Democratic Republic.
While scrolling through the Twitter thread, we found another comment in agreement with the statement made by Jonathan.
These statements create more doubt and environmental harm and also slow climate action in Africa.
FACT CHECK
The World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) “State of Climate in Africa’s report, 2021” Africa’s climate has warmed up more than the global average since pre-industrial times (1850-1900). Between 1991 to 2021, Africa’s average temperature increased by approximately +0.3°C/decade, compared to +0.2°C/decade between 1961 and 1990. The year 2021 ranks third or fourth on record for Africa’s warmest year. North Africa recorded the largest temperature anomaly of all six subregions of Africa.
The report shows a number of high-impact climate-related events like extreme droughts, extensive floods and tropical winds, which altogether led to food insecurity, increased number of climate refugees and devastating losses and damages impairing socioeconomic development,” the report reads.
Furthermore, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) sixth annual report released in August 2021 indicates evidence of extreme weather events like excessive rainfall over desert regions, and pest invasion in some parts of the continent for example locust swarms in Uganda and Kenya.
Speaking of high temperatures recorded, the United Nations framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), passed on that the year 2019 was among the three warmest years on record for Africa as indicated in the image below
The report goes ahead to warn that it is expected to continue if no action steps are taken to mitigate climate change and its effects on the people of Africa and beyond.
Evidence from the recent past shows that In 2022 alone, a number of climate change impact cases were reported in the different African regions, as indicated in the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) analysis.
From West Africa, there were floods and droughts in the horn of Africa. Severe storms in the south and wildfires in Algeria coupled with landslides.
The IPCC’s fact sheet on Africa shows differences in variables for northeastern Africa which registered a decrease in rainfall with no increase in droughts.
Additionally, South, West and Central Africa had recorded droughts. There has been an increase in marine heatwaves since the 20th century.
Furthermore, relative sea levels have increased more rapidly than overall mean sea levels around Africa in the last three decades.
The World Meteorological Organisation says that there is some action registered throughout the year however there is more action required for Africa to mitigate or reverse climate change impacts.
Verdict:
The statement that there is no climate change in Africa is rated misleading. There are records showing climate change-related events in Africa both in local and international media.
African governments and independent international organisations fighting to mitigate climate change impacts.
Debunk Media Initiative produced this fact-check with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, International Fact-Checking Network and African Fact-Checking Alliance network.
