1. A108186 ACTRAV/ITC-ILO COURSE Decent Work, Green Jobs and Sustainable Development Turin Centre, 24 August to 04 September 2015 African Perspective Climate Change and Environment

2. Presentation Outline  Introduction  Climate Change Vulnerability in Africa:  Consequences of Climate Change in Africa  Economic costs of Climate Change Impact on Africa  Shrinking of Lake Chad  AU-NEPAD Environment Action Plan  AU’s Agenda 2063: Climate Action and Decent Work  Adaptation and Mitigation:  Mitigation Measures in Africa  Adaptation Measures in Africa  Potential Benefits of Greening Economy  Sectors with Potential for Green Jobs Creation  Conclusion

3. Introduction  Environmental Sustainability and Decent Work for All are two of the defining challenges of the 21 st century. PRODUCTIONCONSUMPTION EARTHS  By 2050 there will be 9.6 billion human beings in the world and on current trends of PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION, we would require the natural resources of three planet EARTHS to sustain us.  The overuse of natural resources is increasingly exceeding planetary boundaries Inclusive Social Development Environmental Sustainability  The challenge of Inclusive Social Development and Environmental Sustainability are indeed enormous and urgent: Job Creation  With over 201 million people unemployed [incl.74 million youth], persistent working poverty and social exclusion affecting more than a billion people globally coupled with rising inequality, declining social cohesion and stability, Job Creation is a social imperative SOCIAL INCLUSION, POVERTY ERADICATION SOCIAL COHESIONSTABILITYGREENER GROWTH EARTH  Developing countries can seize a unique opportunity to address SOCIAL INCLUSION, POVERTY ERADICATION and reinforce SOCIAL COHESION and STABILITY by shifting to a GREENER GROWTH path that will help preserve our Common Home [Planet EARTH]

4. Climate Change Vulnerability in Africa Source: Delphine Digout, revised by Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal, Environment and Poverty Times #4: MDG issue, Vital Climate Change Graphics Update, 2002, updated 2004, 2005, available at: http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/climate_change_vulnerability_in_africa Data sources: Anna Ballance, UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2002. http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/climate_change_vulnerability_in_africa

6. Economic Costs of Climate Change Impact on Africa Coastlines and sea level rise. up to 20 million people / year in 2100 flooded Costs of several $billion/year by 2030 Up to $50 billion/year by 2100 (AdaptCost) Energy demand. Rising temperatures and demand for cooling rise of 30% by 2030. Water resources People with high water stress, 75-250 million by the 2020s and 350-600 million by the 2050s Increasing extremes Costs of flood and drought years already 5 – 8% of GDP. Extreme events could intensify Loss of ecosystem services Effects on forests, corals, wildlife parks, and on tourism and services Heath burden Rising incidence of health burdens (malaria, other vector borne), heat extremes Agriculture yield reductions up to 50% by 2020 and net crop revenues up to 90% by 2100 Source: Watkiss et al SEI WeAdapt Google Earth Platform/ DFID Economics of Climate Change in East Africa / UNEP AdaptCost / EC ClimateCost

7. Shrinking of Lake Chad

8. AU-NEPAD Environment Action Plan Environment is one of 8 components of NEPAD Designed to tackle Africa’s environmental challenges – 1 st Africa Framework on Environment Adopted in 2003 by 2 nd AU Summit following a wider participatory and consultative process

9. Key Objectives of the EAP Contribute to NEPAD implementation through the environment initiative Promote sustainable use of Africa’s natural resources and strengthen public and political support to environmental initiatives Promote environmental issues into poverty reduction strategy

10. Program Areas of the EAP  Combating land degradation, drought and desertification  Conserving Africa’s wetland  Prevention, control and management of invasive alien species  Conservation and sustainable use of marine, coastal and freshwater resources  Combating climate change in Africa  Transboundary conservation or management of natural resources  Cross-cutting issues:  Health and environment  Assessment of an early warming on natural disasters  The environment directory of NEPAD

11. AU’s Agenda 2063: Climate Action & Decent Work Agenda 2063 “The Africa We Want” Inclusive growth, climate resilient economies and sustainable development Participation in global efforts to tackle climate change through mitigation and adaptation measures Building Africa’s capacity to implement regional and international environmental agreements Addressing Africa’s environmental challenges Adopting green economy strategy Encouraging green private investment and ensuring that markets are open for green and clean products Seizing Africa’s energy & climate opportunities by: Adopting clean technology Redirecting subsidies spent on fossil fuel to renewable energy Pricing carbon out of the market through taxation Energy labelling Increasing the capacity of carbon sinks e.g. through reforestation Combating desertification Monitoring the environment Promoting ratification of climate change treaties Awareness-raising campaigns Exploiting the potential in biodiversity-based industries Promoting Decent Work as a key component of national development strategies Promoting adaptation and mitigation strategies to preserve the environment and attain sustainability

12. Mitigation and Adaptation  Mitigation Mitigation tackles the causes of climate change  Mitigation refers to an anthropogenic intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks GHGs (IPCC) Mitigation tackles the causes of climate change  Adaptation  Adaptation refers to adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change stimuli or their effects, which moderate harm or exploits beneficial opportunities Adaptation tackles the effects of climate change  Africa suffers the most from adverse impacts of climate change due to:  Low adaptive capacity  Low resilience  High levels of poverty  The poor suffers the most of the impacts of climate change

13. Mitigation Measures in Africa  Knowledge analysis and sharing in green economy Green Economy  Adoption of Green Economy legislation, policies and programs Global Warming Just Transition  Awareness raising on Global Warming and Just Transition  Capacity building: human, organizational and institutional  Use of cooking gas and efficient cooking stoves instead of wood fuel [East Africa, West Africa and Central Africa]  Reduction of Emission, Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) [Niger, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Sierra Leone, etc.]  Shift from the use of chemical fertilizers to organic manure or compost [Madagascar] Clean Energy TechnologiesFossil Fuel  Shift to “Clean Energy Technologies” as an alternative to Fossil Fuel e.g. solar, hydro, geothermal, wind, biofuel and biomass energies [East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and North Africa]  Alliances and partnerships

15. Low Carbon Growth East Africa Examples

16. Adaptation Measures in Africa  Historical and real time climate observations and forecasts [Improved disaster preparedness, management and response]  Development of more resilient crop varieties [heat, drought, and salt resistant]  Investment in efficient technologies for water conservation and irrigation; waste management (e.g. through recycling)  Adoption of new methods to combat land degradation e.g. construction of dykes and storm surge barriers to protect sandy coasts  Prevent further development on flood plains and beaches  Planned adaptation – policy coherence across sectors  Building bridges between science and policy

17. Potential Benefits of Greening Economy  Transition to a greener economy could help reach many social goals over the next 20 to 30 years, including:  Creating about 15 to 60 million additional decent jobs  Upgrading jobs and raising incomes, especially in sectors such as agriculture, construction, recycling, and tourism  Contributing significantly to poverty eradication, social inclusions and bridging inequalities  Realizing environmental sustainability

18. Sectors with Potentials for Green Jobs Creation Sustainable Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Renewable Energy: Wind, Solar, Biomass, Hydro Material Management (Recycling, Waste Management and Reuse) Transportation, Tourism, etc. Manufacturing, Construction and Environmental Services

19. Conclusions  The world of work is a source of solutions and is an indispensable driver to bring about profound transformation of production and consumption ‘business as usual’  Proactive policies to protect the climate and preserve the environment can actually create substantially more jobs than ‘business as usual’ growth Green Economy Agenda  We must put Green Economy Agenda at the heart of DWCP, National Development Framework and Growth Strategy  A Just Transition for all towards an environmentally sustainable economy is imperative OUR COMMON HOME!  We must all collaborate to care for OUR COMMON HOME!