Climate Change Adaptation In Africa (CADA) Programme

Global warming, caused by excessive emission of greenhouse gasses from human activities, is changing the climate.

Although the whole of the African continent contributes very little (less than 4 percent) to global greenhouse emissions, it is the continent that faces the worst impacts.

Thousands of people in Africa continue to lose their properties and means of livelihood as a result of extreme events fueled by climate change.
These events include drought and desertification, flooding, gully erosion and landslides, massive crop failures due to weather unpredictability, and others.

In the Nanka areas (in Anambra State) and other South Eastern states of Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria,  destructions from flooding, gully erosion and landslides are particularly worse.

Poverty and hunger are becoming widespread.

This is creating a youth population that are increasingly becoming more vulnerable to social vices such as internet fraud, online love scams (known as “yahoo yahoo” in African parlance), prostitution, drug abuse and thuggery, kidnapping of important figures for ransom (including politicians, priests and diplomats), armed robbery, violent agitations and others.

In a recent onslaught targeted at the diplomatic community, armed youths attacked the convoy of the U.S. embassy in Anambra State, killing two staff of the U.S. consulate and two police officers.
The convoy, according to the U.S. government, were visiting Anambra State in relation to a flood response project sponsored by the the U.S. government.

In the words of Tony Elumelu, one of Africa’s top economists, “It is a lack of economic hope or opportunity that leads a young man to carry an AK47 and join a terrorist or bandit group.”