The United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has said that Nigeria is the first country in Africa to set bold targets and robust regulations for methane reduction.

In a statement by the State Department Press Office Blinken said methane could reduce air pollutants by a third and avert tens of thousands of deaths.

He spoke at a forum with the theme ‘Climate adaptation and just energy transition forum’ with five African leaders at the ongoing U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

The forum took place at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC, US at the ongoing U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

The African leaders In attendance include President Muhammadu Buhari, President Wavel Ramkalawan of Seychelles, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea and President Bongo Ondimba of Gabon.

According to Blinken, Africa is the most considered continent with greater need for support on climate change.

He said: “The diversity of this group is heartening – a statement not merely of how we’re all affected by the climate crisis, but how committed we all are to working together to address it.

“Last month many of us were in Egypt for COP27. An African COP was a recognition that, as the urgency of the climate crisis grows, our focus must increasingly be on Africa.

“17 of the world’s 20 most climate vulnerable countries are on the African continent. Four straight years of drought in the Horn of Africa have left more than 18 million people facing severe hunger,” he said.

He added that communities across Africa are feeling the impact of a changing climate.

“Severe storms have battered southern Africa; surging temperatures kindle wildfires in northern Africa; rising seas threaten lives and livelihoods on island nations, while extreme weather events in central Africa worsen already-dire food crises and fuel tensions that feed and fuel violent conflict.

“We know that African nations have contributed relatively little to this crisis but are disproportionally harmed by it. It’s both unfair and unrealistic to ask them to turn their backs on economic development and opportunity in the name of a clean energy transition, to ask them in effect to forego what many of us have done in the past in developing our countries and our economies. And so we believe that the best way – indeed, the just way – to address the climate crisis in Africa is to work together.” (The Nation)

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