Climate change in Africa could leave 250 million more people short of water by 2020, spurring conflict and threatening stability on the world’s poorest continent.
This is according to the joint winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, Rajendra K Pachauri, chairperson of the United Nations panel of climate experts, who shared the prize with former US vice-president Al Gore last year. he Indian scientist warned the threat of conflict and competition for scarce resources will grow substantially because of environmental pressures on the continent, caused by lack of food and water, desertification and flash flooding. He said all these issues are incompatible with good governance. Some experts already link the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region to competition over access to food and water. Pachauri warned there was a risk of Africa falling into a vicious cycle, where good governance was needed to alleviate poverty, but climate change and resource competition fostered conflict and corruption. – Staff reporter
