World faces three-faceted climate challenges

The freshwater cycle is in crisis globally, with ripple effects on food security, health, sanitation and overall development being placed in jeopardy.Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein made this statement at the Africa Climate Summit, which took place this week in Kenya. He warned that the world is facing a three-faceted crisis.Firstly, the effects of the climate crisis are now clearly visible, with increased intensity in droughts and floods, out-of-season storms, intense wildfires, flooding, unprecedented heatwaves, glacier melting, and rising ocean levels.He said the world is facing a water crisis as all these climatic changes are having severe effects on the water cycle."Over and above, it makes secure water supply more difficult, more expensive, and often out of reach for developing countries."He said currently, the Climate Crisis Agenda is focused on mitigating and adapting to CO2 emissions and carbon-neutral industrialisation.Schlettwein said this agenda falls short of recognising the fact that no development is possible without water.He said the architecture of the climate change agenda must be corrected to include water as an equally crucial aspect, which must include the financing of the water sector.Financial crisis"Secondly, we have a financial crisis."Schlettwein said the debt crisis, exchange trends, and weaponization of financial rules are fueling inequality and making the future prospects for developing economies difficult.He said Africa is again the hardest hit by inflationary pressures, with food and fuel prices climbing beyond affordable thresholds for large sections of the population.He said shortfalls in the required funding to address climate change and related water cycle aspects remain significant.Schlettwein said to address these multitudes of facets of truly existential risks, it depends on how the financing conundrum is approached."The US$30 billion per year by 2030 in additional financing towards water supply security and sustainable sanitation in Africa could be used as a minimum benchmark figure, but more importantly, Africa’s prosperity should become the benchmark; that is how much is needed to become a prosperous Africa."Schlettwein said concrete steps should be taken immediately to stop all illicit outflows, be they tax or any other form of revenue smuggling from the continent."We cannot continue to sell our minerals, metals and other natural assets for what others determine. We must develop our agricultural and conservation biodiversity potential and generate a return to achieve prosperity."Schlettwein added that investments in Africa’s green industrialisation opportunities like green hydrogen, solar power, and hydropower must be de-risked.Political crisis"Thirdly, we are in a political crisis with war and political instability on the rise."He said the multilateral system of the UN is seriously skewed and no longer fit for purpose, with the majority of global citizens excluded from decision-making."Our own AU lacks the decisiveness to address continental political instability."Schlettwein said financing wars squanders all the funds needed to address climate change."Money is wasted to destroy human lives and necessary infrastructure, and it is again wasted when the destructive results of violent conflict need to be rebuilt."

World faces three-faceted climate challenges

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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World faces three-faceted climate challenges

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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