Our planet and everybody on it are facing unprecedented challenges. We see three of those challenges coming together in East Africa in a devastating way. Covid-19 is threatening healthcare systems, jobs and incomes. Swarms of locusts that are destroying food supplies. Then there is the threat of climate change, with farmers facing droughts and flooding. The pandemic has dramatically illustrated the need for us all to build resilience. Resilience to shocks and challenges that will be made worse by the effects of a changing climate. The decisions we make now will determine whether our planet is greener and stronger for future generations. As a force for good in the world, the UK wants to make sure the every country in the world benefits from a green recovery – especially those who that are most vulnerable to climate change. Throughout history, locusts have brought devastation to communities. Today people across East Africa have seen these plagues of locusts multiplying at astonishing rates leading to the highest swarm levels in 70 years, which some experts have said is contributing to what may be turnout to be a famine of biblical proportions. Growth rates which have been driven by the effects of climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organisation is using sprayers to combat swarms in East Africa and across the world. To date, we have committed £25 million to increase spraying, monitoring and surveillance to tackle locusts. British businesses are playing a key role in this fight, by supplying spraying machinery to the global response. We are combining East African expertise with UK technology – including through the UK-funded supercomputer in Nairobi, assisting climate experts at the regional climate centre. The Met Office and Cambridge University are also working with researchers in East African countries, to forecast where the locusts are moving, so that we can stay one-step ahead of the swarms. However, challenges of this magnitude require a unified front. Research shows that cities are expected to be hardest hit hard by climate change. Weather alerts, using Met Office data, are now being shared through text messages and on radio shows in Nairobi, Dar Es Salaam and Kampala, giving people living in informal settlements the right information at the right time to help them adapt to changing weather patterns. While the effects of climate change are clear – including extreme weather events supporting huge growth in locusts swarms – the secondary effects of Covid-19 may be less obvious but are equally damaging. Global travel has all but ground to a halt and many people left limbo, while countries like Somalia and South Sudan have seen a reduction in overseas remittances. The World Bank is predicting that remittances across Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 will fall by over a fifth. British lobbying on the global stage is helping diaspora communities to continue sending financial support to their families – keeping money transfer services open, even when much of the world seems closed. Alongside this, to stem the pandemic we continue to work with our African partners, including through. The UK provided £20 million to the African Union’s Covid-19 fund, making it the largest donor. This helps leaders, communities and experts to slow the spread of the disease and save lives. President Kagame joined the UK-hosted global vaccine summit that raised an extra $8.8 billion to vaccinate more people across the world and save up to 8 million additional lives. We’re working with the region to keep food, fertiliser and medical supplies safely flowing through borders and into ports, including supporting cross-border trade entering Rwanda and Burundi. Strict hygiene measures and technology, in compliance with Covid-19 prevention measures, are ensuring food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities, and keeping supply chains open. It couldn’t be clearer that we need to build back better. Responding to the pandemic in a clean, green and resilient way for future generations. A response that supports the economic effects, the health effects and our natural environment. The International Energy Agency has found that globally $1 trillion of investment in renewable energy sources over the next three years could create nine million green jobs. Most of Kenya’s power comes from renewable sources, and we are proud of partnerships like the Global Energy Transfer Feed-in Tariff programme in Uganda and the Lake Turkana Windfarm, which contributes to 17% of Kenya’s energy network. In November 2021 the UK and Italy will co-host COP26, where we will advocate for global action to tackle the crisis affecting our climate, just as we brought the world together at the recent Global Vaccine Summit to commit to support vaccinations for millions of people around the world – and exceeded our target. In advance of this, Rwanda was the first country in 2020 to submit its plan to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Together, we can use the opportunity to build back better and greener to unleash the full potential of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Together we can survive, bounce back, and thrive through future shocks. We must use the time ahead of COP26 to unite behind a fairer, greener global economy for both our planet and its people. We do not have time to waste. The cost is too high. The triple threat in East Africa is proof of that. The writer is the British Minister for Africa
