South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment said on Thursday that the measures taken by southern African countries are not sufficient to address the growing threats of climate change.
Ministry of Environment spokesperson Albi Modise who was speaking at a meeting on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, gave the most recent example of Cyclone Freddy which killed hundreds of people in southern Africa and affected over half a million people in Malawi alone.
In this regard, Mr. Modise stressed that despite efforts to reduce climate risks, the southern region remains ill-prepared for climate change-induced disasters.
He warned that if tipping points in the climate system are crossed, they could lead to catastrophic and irreversible changes, which may be further exacerbated by pollution.
The UN IPCC report found that the Earth is likely to cross a critical threshold of global warming within the next decade and that nations will need to make an immediate and dramatic shift away from fossil fuels to avoid global warming.