The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
In this op-ed, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and 2017 Ibrahim Laureate, calls on world leaders at COP26 to take decisive action to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, outlining the devastating consequences for African countries if this is not achieved. She also urges all countries, especially the world's biggest emitters, to put forward stronger emission-reduction targets.
Though the continent has contributed the least to emissions — sub-Saharan African countries, excluding South Africa, account for just 0.55 percent of cumulative CO₂ emissions — Africa has been on the front lines of climate change for decades. Yet leaders in the Global North, preferring to indulge in delay and denial, have done little to help.
Below is an excerpt; read the full piece here.
How do you tell people that they must leave their community or drown? This was the gut-wrenching decision I faced five years ago, as president of Liberia, when thousands of families in the largest township of the capital, Monrovia, saw their homes swept out to sea.
Similar devastation stretches across Africa. Mozambique and Zimbabwe are still struggling to recover from Cyclone Idai, the deadly storm that hit in 2019, and Madagascar is on the brink of famine. As weather patterns become more volatile, irregular rain is common, badly affecting crop and livestock yields. For a continent dependent on agriculture — it accounts for around one-fifth of sub-Saharan Africa’s economic output — the effects of climate change are especially ruinous.
None of this is new. Though the continent has contributed the least to emissions — sub-Saharan African countries, excluding South Africa, account for just 0.55 percent of cumulative CO₂ emissions — Africa has been on the front lines of climate change for decades. Yet leaders in the Global North, preferring to indulge in delay and denial, have done little to help.
COP26, the United Nations climate conference in progress in Glasgow, Scotland, is a chance to change that. For the sake of the planet and particularly for Africa, leaders must seize the moral imperative and commit to decisive action.
