Covid-19 is as contagious economically as it is medically. Estimates by the Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge put the worst-case scenario cost of the pandemic to the global economy at a nightmarish $82-trillion over five years, with an optimistic loss of $3.3-trillion in the case of speedy recovery.
Like the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change is one of the most serious challenges the world has faced in recent times. The consensus among scientists, international agencies and leading organisations in climate science is that the increase in the Earth’s temperature is anthropogenic — that is, man-made.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report specifies that three of the top five global risks relate to climate change. It exacerbates existing risks and creates new risks for human and natural systems.
Africa is one of the hotspots of vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change, with multiple biophysical, political and socioeconomic stresses interacting to increase the continent’s susceptibility and constrain its adaptive capacity. Read more…
