African countries spending billions to cope with climate crisis

People park their canoes next to a mud dyke they built to try and prevent flooding in New Fangak, Jonglei state, South Sudan. Photograph: Sam Mednick/AP

African countries are being forced to spend billions of dollars a year coping with the effects of the climate crisis, which is diverting potential investment from schools and hospitals and threatens to drive countries into ever deeper poverty.

Dealing with extreme weather is costing close to 6% of GDP in Ethiopia alone, equating to a spend of more than $1 repairing climate damage for every $20 of national income, according to research by the thinktank Power Shift Africa.