Climate think-tank Power Shift Africa has launched the Adapt2Live campaign to mobilise international support for adaptation and resilience initiatives across Africa. The initiative aims to raise the profile of adaptation in the global climate discourse, while advocating for increased funding.
"The Adapt2Live campaign is a response to the growing climate crisis in Africa, marked by deadly floods, crippling droughts and devastating heat waves," said the campaign organisers. "Despite these urgent challenges, climate adaptation has been overshadowed globally."
The think tank says that Africa's vulnerability to climate change demands immediate action, and that there is therefore a need to shift the conversation to adaptation and to place it, along with loss and damage, on the international policy agenda. The campaign promotes sustainable development and proposes actions that are in line with Africa's development agenda.
"Ambitious, collective and deliberate climate action is needed now. This campaign explicitly addresses the fundamental issues facing the continent, from food security to access to water, protection of land rights, and putting people at the centre of decisions that will drive investment to help communities effectively adapt and thrive," said Mohamed Adow, Director of Power Shift Africa.
The campaign, which will unfold in three phases, also aims to develop a common position of African civil society organisations (CSOs) on climate adaptation ahead of COP28, and to create a pan-African platform to bring together adaptation champions and stakeholders.
Last week, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) released the first global climate stocktake, a comprehensive analysis of global climate action.
It shows that despite the promises made in the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, and an even more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the world needs to step up its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, as current commitments are still on track to raise temperatures by an alarming 2.5 degrees Celsius.
The report underlines the urgency of tackling climate change, the need for immediate action and the significant challenges in meeting the Paris Agreement's goals. It also highlights the need for cooperation to achieve a sustainable and liveable future.
