Climate Change to increase war in Africa – Bolivian envoy

Civil war is to increase in Africa by 54 percent
by the year 2030 if current global climate
continues to increase due to the activities of
multinational oil companies, a former Bolivian
ambassador to the United Nations, Pablo
Solon, has said in Lagos.
He made this assertion at the inaugural
sustainability academy organised by the Health
of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) academy
in conjunction with the University of Lagos,
Department of Mass Communication at the
weekend. The lecture with the theme-
Communicating Climate Change: Raising
Awareness to Instigate Action, had participants
from the civil society and academia in
attendance.
Solon said the effects of climate change on
Africa would lead to food shortages which
would lead to increase in civil wars on the
continent.
He also warned that if the world does not
tackle climate change, by 2020, 75 to 250
million people in Africa will be exposed to
water stress, a situation which would further
fuel internal conflict on the continent. He also
warned of a looming food crisis in Africa as
yields from agriculture could be reduced by 50
percent before the year 2020.
The Executive Director, HOMEF, Nnimmo
Bassey, said the lecture was the third in the
series of “serious interrogations of climate
change and the looming food crisis in Africa.”
He said effective communication of climate
change and the looming food crisis “will help
us unpack the problem outline true and false
solutions to the crisis and assist in preparing a
strategy for action.”
Also speaking, Dr. Ismail Ibrahim, from the
Department of Mass Communication, said it is
important for the students to have a feel of
the reality of what has been taught in abstract
in the classroom. “Most of the time we speak
in abstract, so we try to reach out to real
situations. This programme helps us interpret
our challenges in a peculiar African tradition,”
he said.

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