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In some regions of Kenya the water level is rising steadily, in others it has not rained in ages
Photo:
James Wakibia / SOPA / LightRocket / Getty Images
More than two million Kenyans are currently at risk of starvation.
Kenya's dry land is suffering from a devastating drought.
The short rainy season was supposed to start in October, but while it rains heavily in the west of the country, the arid areas remain dry, hot and desperate.
For two consecutive seasons there has been no rain in these parts of the country.
Eighty percent of Kenya's land is arid or semi-arid, and the communities that live here are mostly ranchers whose survival depends on their animals.
If there is no rain, there is no water or pasture.
By November, the number of starving Kenyans is expected to rise to 2.4 million.
This is the reality of climate change not just in Kenya but across the continent.
Africa contributes little to global warming.
Droughts, floods, pest infestations and diseases have become so commonplace that it would be almost a surprise if an entire year went by somewhere on the continent without such reports.
Shortly before the UN climate conference in Glasgow, the World Meteorological Organization just published the African Climate Report 2020 - the results are worrying.
As the continent warms up more and more, the glaciers on the African mountains are retreating faster than the global average.
The continent is predicted to have lost all glaciers by the 2040s.
Mount Kenya, for example, will be one of the first mountain ranges to be free of glaciers due to climate change - as early as the 2030s, a decade earlier than the rest of Africa.
While the world wants to work to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, this value has long been exceeded in parts of Kenya.
Studies show that all Kenyan arid regions experienced a significant rise in temperature between 1960 and 2014.
In some regions it was almost two degrees Celsius.
The effects of this development have long been visible: drought, deaths and malaria outbreaks - even in regions that do not belong to the traditional malaria areas in the west and on the coast of Kenya.
Few emissions, but the most serious consequences
It is therefore vital that the continent stop further warming.
But Africa needs money for that.
A lot of it.
The African countries south of the Sahara alone need between 30 and 50 billion US dollars to adapt to and contain climate change.
That is the annual cost for the next ten years.
Unfortunately, the continent cannot finance this without help.
Most African governments can only raise a maximum of ten percent of these costs themselves and are heavily dependent on external climate finance.
That is why Africa’s top priority is to secure appropriate funding at the COP26 (as at previous UN climate conferences).
Unfortunately, Africa’s urgent needs are not a priority for developed countries, even though they bear the greatest responsibility for global warming. At previous climate conferences, Africa received nothing with its demands. But the continent remains hopeful. In their contributions to the Paris Agreement, the African countries presented bold plans and committed themselves to further reducing their carbon footprint in order to achieve the 1.5 degree target.
But the continent depends on the support and active action of the global big players.
Everyone must work together to survive climate change.
Talking at conferences is the easy part - acting is the difficult part.
But it is scientifically proven that resolute action is the only chance to survive.
For Africa, further stagnation means that with every flood, with every drought, food shortages continue to increase.
The world has to act.
And now.