Somali president commits $10M to combating climate crisis

By Mohammed Dhaysane

HUDUR, Somalia (AA) - Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud has committed $10 million to tackling climate change, desertification and protecting biodiversity in the Horn of Africa nation.

"Today, we officially launch the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) in Somalia and announce our financial commitment of $10 million, which will be part of our country's allocation from the adaptation fund in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development," Mahamud said in the capital Mogadishu.

Somalia became the latest member state of the African Union to join the initiative that already has 36 countries from the Sahara, Sahel, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa drylands.

Mahamud said that the Great Green Wall Initiative is a “significant milestone in our country’s commitment to addressing climate change and environmental degradation that has caused so much suffering to our people.”

According to a UN report, an estimated 43,000 “excess deaths” might have occurred in 2022 in Somalia resulting from a deepening drought when compared with 2017 and 2018.

Africa as a whole is increasingly exposed to climate shocks, although it only contributes about 4% of the global greenhouse gas emissions.