"The impact of climate change on security in Africa" is the theme of the 2019 edition of the Africa Security forum to be held in December in Rabat, Morocco. This meeting will enable the 400 participants, who are expected to attend, to develop strategies to preserve peace in Africa, based on climate preservation. It is the fourth edition of this forum.
The event will highlight the link between climate change and security issues in Africa. The organisers of the Africa Security forum have decided to place the 2019 edition under the banner of security. From December 1 to 3, 2019, the forum will be held in Rabat on the theme “The impact of climate change on security in Africa”. This three-day event will allow participants to explore the issue to highlight the impact of climate change on ecosystems, biodiversity and human societies, and will provide a framework for developing solutions to limit these impacts on both sides of the African continent.
Nearly 400 participants from 66 countries, including 35 Africans, are expected in Rabat for this conference. The profiles expected are quite varied: researchers, civil society specialists, ministerial authorities, representatives of companies concerned by the themes addressed, etc. The forum is organized by the Atlantis Centre for Research and Geostrategic Studies, a think tank in partnership with the International Security Technology Forum (ISTF) and under the high patronage of King Mohammed IV of Morocco.
Discussions focused on climate and security
Among the main themes to be discussed are food security and water management. And in this context, exchanges will take place on improved water management, climate change and food security, as well as crop yields and livestock productivity. The other two main axes that structure this forum are population growth and agricultural development on the one hand, and tomorrow’s solutions on the other. In addition to the plenary sessions, business meetings between companies are also on the agenda, as well as the launch of the Africa Security Network, a network that will work to implement the resolutions adopted during the forum. The project to develop a “roadmap 2050” during this forum is in the making. According to Driss Benomar, Executive Chairman of the Atlantis think tank, this tool will enable Africa to propose African solutions to security and climate change issues on the continent.
What is the link between climate and security?
Since the first edition was held in 2015, the Africa Security Forum first focused in 2019 on the relationship between climate change and security in Africa. The adaptation of this conference to the thorny issue of climate change can be understood, given that in Africa, the number of undernourished people is estimated at 240 million. In addition, a temperature increase could increase this figure by at least 25% in Central Africa, 50% in East Africa, 85% in Southern Africa and 95% in West Africa (according to statistics from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). And the situation could tighten even more in the coming years since, by 2050, the African continent will have 2 billion inhabitants who will have to be fed at the risk of seeing many of them becoming more radical, because many socio-political conflicts, which affect Africa, are often caused by poverty.
Luchelle Feukeng
