Africa's habitability and youth employment: a shared challenge for the continent

Adrien NKoghe-Mba, president of the Léon-Mba Institute, argues that the degradation of Africa's habitability and the prospect of widespread youth unemployment are interconnected issues that must be addressed together. He highlights two key figures: Africa contributes only 4% to global greenhouse gas emissions but suffers disproportionately from climate change impacts like droughts, cyclones, and rising sea levels. This environmental injustice threatens the continent's ability to sustain life. Simultaneously, 360 million young Africans are expected to enter the job market in the next decade, but current economic growth is projected to create only 150 million jobs, leaving 210 million without employment. NKoghe-Mba posits that safeguarding Africa's habitability is the "greatest project of the century," requiring massive labor for tasks such as restoring degraded lands, replanting mangroves, adapting cities to heat, electrifying the continent with solar power, and preserving the Congo Basin forests. He emphasizes that climate finance should also be viewed as employment finance, advocating for substantial investments in "habitability professions" to address both environmental injustice and youth unemployment simultaneously. He concludes that there is no choice but to engage the continent's large youth population in making Africa livable.