Casa África and the Biodiversity Foundation have organised the first meeting of a series of activities aimed at providing an exchange of knowledge between Spanish and African institutions, which will allow the identification of the application of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) to address the effects of climate change on the African continent.

The aim of these actions is to collect these good practices and share them at the next COP27 to be held in Egypt, so that actions are carried out to limit the risks to which the most vulnerable population is exposed.

The webinar “Prevention and Adaptation Initiatives to alleviate the effects of Climate Change in Africa through Nature-based Solutions” was attended by José Segura, Director General of Casa África, who wanted to highlight the importance of “transmitting to the competent Spanish and European authorities, the points of view and solutions that are proposed in meetings such as this one and the support that Africa demands to face the this challenge. Being very sensitive to what we could call ‘African solutions’, innovations and development of solutions to face the challenge of climate change on this continent”.

For her part, Elena Pita, director of the MITECO Biodiversity Foundation, highlighted the opportunity that the upcoming COP27 represents “to work together, governments and civil society, including the private sector, to demonstrate that greater climate action can help move the geopolitical chessboard in the right direction and respond to the huge security gaps that are opening up in food, energy, nature, debt, etc.” In addition, he wanted to add that “Egypt is working to make it a Summit that focuses a lot on the implementation of practical solutions on the ground that mean real progress and improvements in the countries”, hence the importance of shared work meetings such as this one.

According to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the increase in global temperatures and the decrease in rainfall in Africa – together with the increase in extreme weather events – accelerate the expansion of deserts and serious changes in the most sensitive ecological and biological systems; Africa is also one of the most vulnerable continents.

Climate and weather extremes have already exposed millions of people on this continent to acute food insecurity and reduced water security, despite increased but insufficient prevention and adaptation efforts.

With these actions, the Biodiversity Foundation and Casa África aim to contextualise the risks to which Africa is and will be doomed in the near future due to climate change, as well as showing solutions that, being respectful of nature, help mitigate its effects and help African populations to adapt to the new situation to protect their way of life. their homes and face sustainable development.

In this link you can watch the full webinar.