NAIROBI, Feb. 22 (Xinhua)-: The realization of social justice and cohesion in Africa could be a mirage as the unfolding climate crisis tears communities apart besides worsening poverty and inequality, a campaigner said on Monday during World Day of Social Justice.<\/p>\n
Rosalid Nkirote, the executive director of the Nairobi-based African Coalition of Communities Responsive to Climate Change, said extreme weather events linked to global warming have diminished fairness, justice, and egalitarianism in the continent.<\/p>\n
“Climate change alone is wreaking havoc on the African Union’s Agenda 2063, which among others aims at improving real per-capita incomes, reducing incidences of hunger, especially among women and youth, and creating job opportunities,” Nkirote said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.<\/p>\n
Marked every Feb. 20, this year’s World Day of Social Justice seeks to rally communities toward collective action on threats to basic rights and human dignity, including poverty and hunger.<\/p>\n
Nkirote noted that climate change, along with COVID-19-related disruptions, conflicts, and the global economic downturn, has worsened the fragility of Africa’s poor, denying them basic items like food, clean water, shelter, and health.<\/p>\n
In addition, Nkirote said climate emergencies have overwhelmed public coffers in the continent, pushing the rural and urban poor on the margins of survival and denying them a future of hope and dignity.<\/p>\n
She cited the escalating drought in the East and Horn of Africa as reversing gains made in realizing social justice for all, given the magnitude of forced displacement, resource-based conflicts, and hunger.<\/p>\n
Statistics from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) indicate that 23.4 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are grappling with acute food insecurity linked to a prolonged and climate-induced drought cycle.<\/p>\n
Nkirote noted that as the climate crisis undermines efforts to bridge the access gap on basic services like clean water, electricity, and modern sanitation in Africa, social justice remains a pipedream.<\/p>\n
She emphasized that a people-centered climate response will be key to achieving social justice and inclusivity in a continent that contributes least to planetary warming but has borne the brunt of this phenomenon.<\/p>\n
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