Alao insisted at the UN climate change conference in Bali last month that Africa has little or no capacity to cope with climate change, which she claimed had

already been established in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 4th assessment report.

A UN report had earlier stated that "an estimated 30 per cent of Africa's coastal infrastructure including coastal settlement in the Golf of Guinea, Senegal, the Gambia and Egypt could be inundated and between 25 per cent and over 40 per cent of species habitats in Africa could be lost by 2085 due to climate change".

The Minister pointed out that climate change can impact natural resources, health, food security and the general development of humanity.  

She said "the region is suffering from the consequences of climate change they did not cause which has invariably increased poverty burden thereby making survival more and more difficult".

Alao called for more support and concrete actions by industrialised nations to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change.

"Africa, due to its geographic location places Nigeria and other countries within it at the receiving end of numerous effects of the climate change, the phenomenon is further aggravated by the economies of the continent which has put the countries within it and its people, over 90 per cent below the poverty line," she added.

Experts estimate that the total available water in Africa's largest catchment basins of Niger, Lake Chad and Senegal has dropped by 40-60% which has resulted in lower average annual rainfall, runoff and soil moisture.  This has invariably worsened desertification.  The grasslands of the Sahel running across the continents south to the Sahara desert are shrinking and climate models predict warmer temperatures and less rainfall for this region under global warming.   This further accelerates desertification and loss of productive land.

This ultimately results in increased numbers of drought, food shortage and environmental pressure which could lead to conflict between struggling nations, as refugees migrate on the African continent.  THE END.