Opinion piece by President Chissano

However, our unique natural inheritance is under threat. Across Africa, one can see threats to water supplies and cases of severe environmental degradation. Lake Chad, which supports the livelihood of 30 million people across four countries, may no longer feature on maps of West Africa in just 40 years time. Lake Haramaya in Ethiopia is not alone in having disappeared altogether.

Most alarmingly, these changes are taking place before the full impact of climate change is being felt.  Despite being the least responsible for causing it, Africans now are on the front line of climate change, with sub-Saharan Africa being more vulnerable than any other region in the world.  As President of Mozambique, I witnessed first-hand the devastating impact of severe flooding in 2000 and 2001 when I led the emergency response to the crisis. Tragically this is unlikely to be the last occurrence of flooding in Africa. A recent report launched by Kofi Annan shows that there is a significantly increased risk of natural disasters due to climate change.