Climate change has emerged as one of the key socio-economic and developmental challenges confronting policymakers in Africa.
Consequently, climate change has the potential for reversing the significant gains made in poverty reduction and inequality, social inclusion, economic growth and development in the last two decades.
According to African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Executive Director Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, supply-side shocks that drive domestic food and energy prices are critical in the mitigation process.
Prof Ndung’u says that to enhance mitigation and adaptation to climate change, African governments are therefore required to make major structural investment and policy decisions that will influence the rate, structure and character of economic growth and development for the long term.
In a press release Thursday on the upcoming 24th AERC policy seminar to be held next week Wednesday to assist policy makers and other actors to better understand the impact of climate change on economic development, the Executive Director said policies are the only ones that can build and strengthen resilience of Sub-Saharan African economies to ensure sustainability of growth and development.
“The overarching goal of this year’s seminar is to improve Africa’s readiness to confront climate and environmental shocks and leverage the opportunities they present through climate-smart sets of economic policies,” he said.
The expected outcome of the Senior Policy Seminar will be to raise awareness and knowledge among senior policymakers, private sector and non-state actors on the role of Climate Change in Africa, through evidence-based research, identification of enabling government policies for climate change and exchange of country-specific experiences through a roundtable discussion.
The AERC Senior Policy Seminar is an annual forum convened to provide high level African policymakers with the opportunity to come together to learn about the results of AERC research, exchange policy experiences with each other and interact with their researchers in an atmosphere of peers. But above all, adopt policy propositions that enrich economic management choices and designs applicable in their respective countries.
Prof. Ndungu’ said that four papers that synthesise frontier knowledge and evidence from country case studies for a comprehensive process of packaging evidence-based policymaking will be presented during the seminar
“The four papers to be presented will focus on Climate Change and Agriculture: Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Options, Climate Change, Poverty, Inequality and Covid -19: Avoiding the Worst Impacts, Energy and Climate Change: What Policy options exist and also Urbanization and Climate Change Vulnerability looking at What next.
The Seminar is themed “Climate Change and Economic Development in Africa” and will focus on policy proposals that can be adopted to shape Africa’s response to climate change.
African Economic Research Consortium is a premier capacity building institution in the advancement of research and training to inform economic policies in Sub-Saharan Africa established in 1988.
By Wangari Ndirangu
