The effects of a rapidly warming climate are all too evident in Africa. Floods described as “unprecedented” killed more than 200 people in Kenya in May and displaced thousands more. In the Sahel, the semi-arid strip south of the Sahara, climate change is causing desertification that has made livestock production increasingly difficult, exacerbating conflict and driving people to poverty. And, in west Africa, a lethal heatwave earlier this year has been attributed by scientists to human-induced climate change. The situation is expected to get worse.
氣候迅速變暖對非洲的影響太明顯了。今年5月,肯亞發生了被稱爲「前所未有」的洪水,造成200多人死亡,數以千計的人流離失所。在撒哈拉以南的半乾旱地帶沙赫爾地區,氣候變化正在造成荒漠化,使畜牧生產日益困難,加劇了衝突,使人們陷入貧困。而在西非,科學家們將今年早些時候的致命熱浪歸因於人爲引起的氣候變化。預計情況會變得更糟。