Africa faces about $30B in climate-related losses by 2030, warns expert

ABUJA, Nigeria

Africa is estimated to lose about $30 billion or 15% of its Gross Domestic Products (GDP) annually to climate change effect by 2030, an international financial expert said on Thursday.

"Africa is estimated to lose 5% to 15% of its projected GDP by 2050 with a projected climate adaptation cost of $10 billion to $30 billion annually by 2030," warned Thabo Thamane, head of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), in an address to participants from about 32 countries.

Besides the dire consequences that African nations may face if no action is taken against climate change, other parts of the world may also suffer, Thamane warned at the AADFI's international forum in Nigeria's capital Abuja.

Pointing to increasingly unstable weather conditions across the globe, he said that in Latin America, for example, precipitation patterns are shifting as temperatures rise, resulting sometimes in extreme rains.

"These scenarios suggest that no region is immune to the effects of climate change," he stressed.

Thamane urged for countries in Africa to keep working to build a smart climate future and for people to adopt more environmentally friendly behavior.

The AADFI is an umbrella organization for development-oriented financial institutions in Africa, established under the African Development Bank in 1975.

The three-day forum themed on development finance institutions' strategic role in securing a "climate-smart future," is also being attended by financial experts from Asia and the Pacific regions.