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Cartoon | Wealthy nations snub climate change summit

African leaders have criticised wealthy nations, who are among the worst polluters, for failing to turn up at a climate change summit in the Netherlands. The only Western leader to appear in person was the Dutch host, PM Mark Rutte.

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Presidents of Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Ghana travelled to Rotterdam to attend the Africa Adaptation Summit. Only one European leader was there to meet them, their Dutch host, PM Mark Rutte.

Senegalese President Macky Sall said he felt bitter that the world’s main polluters had failed to offer funds to help Africa adapt to global warming. President Sall added: “I cannot help but note, with some bitterness, the absence of leaders from the industrial world. I think if we made the effort to leave Africa to come to Rotterdam, it would be easier for the Europeans and others to be here.”

The Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi also criticised the absence saying, “it is my turn to also deplore the absence of leaders of industrialised nations.”

In 2020, global carbon emissions reached 32 billion tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. However, not all countries face the same level of responsibility regarding the climate crisis. The top 10 largest emitter countries account for 67.6% of the world total. 

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Africa contributes the least of any continent to global warming but the continent is in line to be the hardest hit by the resulting climate changes.

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