AA/ Dakar / Alioune Ndiaye
The world’s lowest emitters of greenhouse gases, the least developed countries (LDCs) are those which suffer the most impact from climate change, with 69% of the total deaths linked to climate-related disasters in the world.
This was announced on Thursday by Rolf Traeger, head of the LDCs section of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
“LDCs are the first to feel climate change. As proof, 69% of deaths due to climate-related disasters that have been recorded in the world over the past fifty years have occurred in these countries”, he said on the occasion of the presentation of the 2022 report of the Unctad on LDCs.
“During the period 2017-2021, they were the target of 19% of the climatic, meteorological and hydrological hazards that occurred in the world and represented 29% of the affected populations”, further noted Traeger in his presentation.
According to the report presented Thursday in Dakar, the LDCs, which number 46, have approximately 1.1 billion inhabitants (14% of the world’s population) and have a low level of carbon dioxide emissions compared to other countries.
“In 2019, their share of global CO2 emissions attributable to the two main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, namely the combustion of fossil fuels and industrial processes, was around 1.1%,” noted the report. , noting that the carbon footprint in these countries was at least eight times lower than in developed or other developing countries.
“The vulnerabilities of LDCs and the shortcomings of the current development model, which the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed, call for the adoption of a development strategy that guarantees growth and structural transformation, while taking into account social and environmental aspects,” Traeger said, calling for urgent solutions.
The report entitled ”The transition to a low-carbon economy and its daunting consequences for structural transformation” has identified ways to respond to the climate emergency in LDCs.
It is therefore a question, among other things, for Cnuced of rethinking international support and financing of climate action and also of taking into account the specific needs in terms of development to ensure a transition towards a low-carbon economy.
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