Participants at the second edition of the African Migration Summit have proffered solutions to the various migration challenges on the continent.
The summit, which was held virtually with the theme: “Climate Change, Migration and The Future of Africa” was organised by the Journalists International Forum For Migration (JIFORM), Nigeria and the Nekotech Center of Excellence, Ghana last Thursday.
In his opening remark, the President of the JIFORM, Dr Ajibola Abayomi, said the essence of the summit was to provide a platform to continually interrogate and deepen migration policies aimed at human and economic development.
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In his presentation titled: “Are We Prepared For Mass Climate Migration? A Framework For Resilience and Justice” the guest lecturer, Associate Prof. Fadhel Kaboub from Denison University, Ohio, USA, urged Africa to push for reparation to curtail the effects of imminent global climate migration.
Recall that the World Bank predicted that by 2030, 216 million people in six regions of the world will be displaced within their own countries due to climate change and that by 2050, more than 200 million people would experience a similar situation.
It also projected that 86 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, 19 million in North Africa, 49 million in South Asia, 17 million in Latin America, and 49 million in East Asia and the Pacific will be impacted by it in 2050.
According to Kaboub, the poorest 50% of countries in the Global South were only responsible for 10% of the emissions from lifestyle consumption, compared to the richest 10% of countries in the Global North which were responsible for 49%.
He asserted that Africa, a continent in the Global South, can manage climate migration without inflicting inflation by reducing structural trade deficits to ensure its food sovereignty, access to renewable energy, security, and management of external debt, as well as industrial growth and financial stability.
He called for an end to the injustice surrounding emissions and noted that in order for the Global North to keep its promise to the Global South to provide an annual $100 billion in aid to ameliorate the effects, it was necessary to demand reparations.
Story was adapted from The Eagle Online.
