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Food Security Needs Strong Water Infrastructures

Development agencies must use the momentum from COP22 to prioritise water infrastructure projects and help mitigate the effects of climate change and extreme weather events in Africa, write Elke Herrfahrdt-Pähle and Waltina Scheumann.

Friday 18th November marked the end of COP22 in Marrakesh, which addressed the implementation of the climate agreement signed in Paris one year ago. The accord at long last recognised that climate change adaptation is equally as important as greenhouse gas emissions reduction. The conference subsequently set out to breathe life into the target agreements.

Adaptation of African Agriculture to Climate Change (AAA), an initiation of host country Morocco, is particularly noteworthy in this context. It aims to help position the African agricultural sector at the heart of debates on climate change adaptation and to mobilise finance for adaptation measures.

This venture is as welcome as it is overdue. Just 5% of the funding available for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts flows to Africa, despite the continent being one of the parts of the world most severely affected by the consequences of climate change.

Neville Nel

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