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100+ World Leaders To Agree To End Deforestation By 2030; World Leaders Urge Action During Critical Climate Talks; U.N. Chief Warns "We Are Digging Our Own Graves"; India Prime Minister: 45 Percent Reduction In Carbon Intensity By 2030; CNN Witnesses Desperate Afghan Parents Selling Daughters. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 02, 2021 - 02:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[02:00:22]
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (on camera): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM, and I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, our climate in crisis. Urgent talk and serious commitments from global leaders in COP26, while activists call for action and implementation.
A disturbing look at the tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan, where CNN witness desperate families who say they are being forced to sell their young daughters to survive.
Plus, the desperate search for survivors in Nigeria after a high rise building collapses.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemarie Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well, in just a few hours from now, world leaders will begin arriving for the second day of the critical COP 26 Climate Summit in Scotland, and on this day, we are expecting to see the first substantial deal.
CHURCH (voice-over): According to the British government more than 100 world leaders representing over 85 percent of the world's forests will commit to ending and reversing deforestation by 2030.
CHURCH (on camera): Urgency was the theme on day one of the COP 26 summit, where the head of the United Nations issued this stark warning about the danger of climate change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL, UNITED NATIONS: Either we stop it or it stops us, and it's time to say enough. Enough of brutalizing biodiversity. Enough of killing ourselves with carbon. Enough of treating nature like a toilet. Enough of burning and drilling and mining our way deeper. We are digging our own graves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (voice-over): British Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared a similarly dire message during his address to world leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BORIS JOHNSON, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: Humanity has long since run down the clock on climate change. It's one minute to midnight on that doomsday clock, and we need to act now.
If we don't get serious about climate change today, it will be too late for our children to do so tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden, who is pushing lawmakers at home to pass landmark climate legislation says the world still has a chance to turn things around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is the decade that will determine the answer. This decade. The science is clear, we only have a brief window left before us to raise your ambitions and to raise to meet the task that's rapidly narrowing.
Glasgow must be the kickoff of a decade -- a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future. Climate change is already ravaging the world. We've heard from many speakers. It's not hypothetical. It's not a hypothetical threat. It's destroying people's lives and livelihoods, and doing it every single day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH (on camera): And CNN's Phil Black is following developments and joins us now from Edinburgh in Scotland. Good to see you, Phil.
So, this imminent agreement in deforestation by 2030 is critical, of course, for the survival of life as we know it, protecting the lungs of our planet, as the British government statement says. But are all leaders fully on board with this? Particularly Brazil and how big a shift does this represent?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Rosemary, the British government describes this as unprecedented. It seems some work has gone into this. It's going to be announced later today with a key group of world leaders. It's a deal that is voluntary and sits alongside the ongoing process of the Paris Agreement and its efforts to drive down individual countries emissions of carbon.
But it covers a wide group of countries, we're told, more than 100. Including Brazil, yes, so, in theory, the Amazon is protected, including countries that have big industries that drive deforestation.
The deal will cover some 85 percent of the world's forests. We are told it is backed by some big funding to around $20 billion in public and private finance, and some big private financial companies have also promised to start investing in projects that drive deforestation.
[02:05:15]
BLACK: Now, deforestation, protecting trees has always been one of those iconic causes for environmental and climate campaigners. We're going to get more reaction from them over the course of the day, I think, once this has been formally announced, but it is likely to be cautious, depending on how much detail we get.
And, you know, they have been disappointed before by previous efforts to end deforestation as well. There is an understanding globally that natural solutions will play a big part in the overall mix of ways in which countries will drive down emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century.
Deforestation, protecting forests is seen as crucial to that. It cuts emissions through simply preventing the act of cutting down trees, but also preserves these forests as important carbon sinks, which actually draw large amounts of carbon -- have the potential to draw large amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere.
So, for all of these reasons, it is potentially significant and will be used I think as a as an early achievement in these climate talks to try and drive further ambition and momentum over the next two weeks. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, our many thanks to Phil Black joining us live from Edinburgh.
Well, the Climate Action Tracker is an independent scientific analysis that rates the efforts of governments to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
CHURCH (voice-over): It tracks 39 countries, plus the European Union.
Currently, the tiny country of the Gambia in West Africa is the only one that's listed as doing enough. So, what are the top polluters promising at the summit? Well, in a written statement, China vowed to rein in high emission projects but stop short of any firm pledges.
China, currently is the top carbon emitter in the world. The U.S., whose policies and actions were deemed insufficient wants to lead the world in slowing its warming. President Joe Biden says his administration is working overtime to show its commitment is not just words, but lawmakers back home are still debating his climate policies.
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BIDEN: I guess I shouldn't apologize, but I do apologize for the fact the United States -- the last administration pulled out of the Paris Accords and put us sort of behind the eight ball.
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CHURCH: The European Commission president wants world leaders to put a price on carbon and help vulnerable countries adapt to green energy sources.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): The key for the 15 days here in our COP is that their biggest emitters whose national strategies do not conform to our objective of 1.5 degrees is that these biggest emitters raise their ambitions.
PEDRO SANCHEZ, PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN (through translator): Spain will do its part. We commit to increase climate funding by 50 percent by 2025, compared to our current commitment. Our goal is to reach 1.35 billion Euros by 2025.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And India's prime minister made headlines with a promise that the country will become carbon neutral by 2070. But that is actually two decades later than the world as a whole needs to achieve net zero emissions.
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NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA (through translator): Firstly, India will increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030. Secondly, India will fulfil 50 percent of its energy requirements from renewable energy sources by 2030. Thirdly, between now and 2030, India will reduce its total projected carbon emission by 1 billion tons. Fourthly, by 2030. India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 percent. And fifthly, by 2070, India will achieve the target of net zero emissions.
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CHURCH: Outside the conference, climate activist Greta Thunberg gathered with a crowd of protesters. She slammed world leaders for not doing enough to address the crisis. And she told the crowd, it will be up to individuals to make change happen.
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GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: This COP26 is so far just like the previous COPs, and that has led us nowhere, they have led us nowhere.
Inside COP, they are just politicians and people in power pretending to take our future seriously -- to pretending to take the present seriously of the people who are being affected already today by the climate crisis.
Change is not going to come from inside there. That is not leadership. This is leadership. This is what leadership looks like.
[02:10:05]
THUNBERG: We say no more blah, blah, blah, no more exploitation of people and nature and the planet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Asad Rehman is the director of War on Want, and the spokesperson for the COP 26 coalition.
CHURCH (on camera): He joins us now from Glasgow. Good to have you with us.
ASAD REHMAN, DIRECTOR, WAR ON WANT: Hi.
CHURCH: So, we just heard there, Greta Thunberg and other climate activists clearly not impressed with what they see is all talk no action at this, and many other COP climate summits. Why don't all world leaders fully grasp that we are facing a climate emergency and real action is needed now?
REHMAN: Well, I share the frustration of Greta and of the millions of people all around the world and the countless people represented civil society here at the -- this U.N. summit.
Look, yesterday, we had plenty of tough talk on climate. But tough talk by itself is not enough. What's really his concrete plans, policies, and the money that goes behind them.
And we really need to turn these countless statements yesterday of we should, we must, and to we will. So, the prime minister of the U.K., as the host of the -- of the climate summit yesterday said, well, one minute to midnight. But at the same time, the U.K. is expanding fossil fuels, it's expanding its aviation, is continuing taxpayer handouts, to dirty energy companies.
It's locking in trade agreements that will lock locking, dirty energy expansion, it's cutting international aid. So, the very things that are needed there, that's not what they're doing.
So, we all know that the promises that to act are not going to keep us to 1.5, we're heading to at least 2.7 degrees, warming with catastrophic impacts all around the world. So, this is not the 1-1/2 degree COP, it's the three degree COP.
Look, the plans are there, the policies are there, we just need the political will of our leaders to act. And unfortunately, we're still seeing that in the corridors of the climate summit, there is too much influence of big business, multinational, saying, slow down -- slow down, we are going to be the solution. CHURCH: So, saying one thing, doing another in a statement, the British government said today is unprecedented pledges, quote, we'll have a chance to end humanity's long history as nature's conqueror, and instead become its custodian, which suggests the potential for a significant change, of course here.
But the presidents of two of the world's biggest carbon polluters, China and Russia are not even at this COP26 summit. So, how big a shift can there truly be? And if, as you say, even the host Britain, the British prime minister saying, you know, this is a disaster that we're confronting, but doing the complete opposite behind the scenes, what hope could there possibly be?
REHMAN: Well, the only hope is for every country to do its fair share. Look, this is a problem that, of course, it's global, but there has been different countries have a different set of responsibilities that's written into the climate convention into the Paris Agreement. Those who caused the most damage, you have got to take the deepest cuts, and we've got to provide support.
We've got to remember, for the many countries, particularly developing countries, you know, they're not just faced with the climate crisis, the killer fires, floods, and famines that we can all see all around the world. They face -- they're in the midst of a COVID pandemic. And again, the decisions by rich countries to not make vaccines available freely accessible to all the developing countries means that many of them are still facing a huge health crisis.
And of course, they're locked into a debt crisis, many of them are paying more money out to in terms of unsustainable debt repayments than there are to protect their own citizens or into their health systems.
So, what really needs to happen is countries like the United States -- look, the United States is responsible for about 25% of all of the emissions that are in the atmosphere. And what matters is all of the emissions not just what you're doing today, but what you've done in the past and what you're likely to do in the future.
The European Union is about 22 percent. And when they tell other developing countries, including big developing countries, who all need to do their share. But India, for example, is only responsible for about three percent.
So India, quite rightly says, well, hold on a minute, when you are doing your fair share, when you stepped up, when you are not doing the very things that you're telling us not to do, then -- you -- that's the real leadership, and then we will follow.
So, the way to build that trust is for rich countries to meet, for example, that unmet promise of the 100 billion.
This was made over a decade ago, and yet it's still been unfilled -- unfulfilled. In fact, some estimates say that only 20 percent of the finances are real. It's not double counted from other financial sources. And most of that is in debt creating loans. Look, we have no problem finding huge amounts of money, for example, when we respond to the financial crisis, or when the pandemic hit our economies in the Global North, but they're telling poorer countries we can't even find the 100 billion for you.
[02:15:08]
REHMAN: That doesn't build a trust. It doesn't really make the countries believe that rich countries are serious about tackling the climate crisis.
CHURCH: Instead of fossil fuels. Let me ask you this, why is there not more of an emphasis being put on harnessing renewable energy, carbon neutral sources like sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, geothermal heat. It is all there right in front of us.
Look at a country like Australia that has all that landmass. And in many instances, masses of solar panels, and they are harnessing the sun. But this needs to happen right across the globe. Why are we not seeing more of this?
REHMAN: So, exactly, you would think, you know, we -- like I said, we've got many of the solutions. We can fix our energy systems, which are fueling the crisis -- climate crisis. We can fix our food system, the industrial agribusiness, which is fueling the climate crisis, and leaving 2 billion people without food.
Look, all of these plans and policies are can be put into effect. But too many of our governments are still locked into addicted to fossil fuels. The power of these big fossil fuel companies have got very, very deep pockets.
And remember, look, the fossil fuel industry with some of the first people to know about the climate crisis, they knew about it, they had the science back in the 70s. And they spent decades first challenging the science, and now spent decades basically saying, let us continue to pollute. And sometime in the future, we'll invent technology, which will suck the carbon out of the atmosphere. It's risky, it's unproven, and it's not the right approach.
What we really need to see is this rapid transition away from our dirty energy systems, yet to renewable energy, but to make energy also accessible. Look, half the world is lacking electricity at the moment, including cooking. While some of us, particularly in the Global North, are using 16 times more energy than people in the Global South. That's just not sustainable.
We have to share these products and recognize that there is a limit to them. They have to be shared more equitably, and everybody in this world has a right to be able to live with dignity.
CHURCH: Yes, there's leaders know we're all waiting for more action. Asad Rehman, thank you so much for talking with us. We appreciate it.
REHMAN: A pleasure. CHURCH: Well, leaders like Boris Johnson at COP26 are hammering home the message that the world mass and reliance on fossil fuels. But as some countries push to phase out coal and invest more in renewables, others are having a harder time ending their dependence.
And CNN's David McKenzie shows us a situation in South Africa.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Treacherous steps into the blackness with illegal miners.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MCKENZIE (on camera): So, we're going deep into this mine. It's a disused mine, but coal is so important in this country that even the old mines, people will go down like this in dangerous conditions and get what they can.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): What Anthony BONGINKOSI, can get, just $3 for a bag of coal to support his grandmother and sister.
Here, they work with little ventilation for life. If they get trapped, no one will come to help.
ANTHONY BONGINKOSI, ARTISANAL MINER: We have lost a lot of them, others with the collapse of the mine, others with the cases that it came underground.
MCKENZIE: That's dangerous work.
BONGINKOSI: Yes, yes. When you inhale that gas, you won't even walk, even 50 steps or 10 steps you just collapse. You become --
MCKENZIE: So, why do you still do it?
BONGINKOSI: I don't have a choice because I have to save my hunger. And not only me, those who follow me, I may die alone here. But what about those who are depending on me.
MCKENZIE: South Africa is a country dependent on coal. With hundreds of thousands of jobs linked to these mines, and its monopoly power utility and shaky economy almost entirely anchored on coal fired plants.
Eskom is one of Africa's biggest polluters, but it's all relative.
MCKENZIE (on camera): South Africa has contributed very little historically to emissions that have caused climate change. Why move away from coal at all?
ANDRE DE RUYTER, GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ESKOM: You know, there's this saying that the Stone Age didn't in because of a lack of stones. And I'm convinced that given current technological cranes, the coal age won't in because of a lack of coal.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): To avoid a climate catastrophe. Climate scientists say the renewable age needs to be pushed by the entire world. Even by countries like South Africa that contributes around just one percent of annual emissions globally.
DE RUYTER: Eskom has made a decision not anymore.
MCKENZIE: To commit to the transition, Eskom says it will shut down ageing coal plants like Komati.
MCKENZIE (on camera): What will it mean when the last monitor goes off for you?
[02:20:02]
MARCUS NEMADODZI, GENERAL MANAGER, KOMATI: Man, it's sad and also an opportunity. So, I will be ready when that happens.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): But the move to renewables takes time and costs money. $50 to $60 billion in South Africa alone says Eskom.
NEMADODZI: For this will become useless.
MCKENZIE: So, rich countries will need to finance the transition as part of their climate commitments. Despite Eskom's mountains of debt and history of corruption allegations.
DE RUYTER: I think it's not only realistic, it's an imperative. If you look at the position that South Africa, unfortunately, occupies, given our size for South Africa to be the 12th largest carbon emitter in the world, we -- I think, are a poster child of what needs to be done in order to transition away from coal to more sustainable forms of electricity generation.
MCKENZIE: They are saying that maybe South Africa needs to stop using coal.
BONGINKOSI: Yes.
MCKENZIE: Because of climate change.
BONGINKOSI: Yes.
MCKENZIE: What do you think about that?
BONGINKOSI: Sure. Sure. What can I say about that, it's make me scared just because of, we have a lot of people who depend on the coal. So, we can't live without it.
MCKENZIE: David McKenzie, CNN, Ermelo, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Coming up next to you on CNN, the unthinkable choices some parents in Afghanistan say they must make as a humanitarian crisis unfolds. Our explosive report, next.
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CHURCH: A distressing story out of Afghanistan showing the harsh reality of the humanitarian crisis engulfing that country. Desperate families say they are being forced to sell their young daughters in order to survive.
And in this exclusive, CNN witnesses the tragic fate facing these helpless little girls. The parents gave us full access and permission to speak to the children and show their faces because they say they can't change the practice themselves.
Anna Coren reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this arid, desolate landscape, not a scrap of vegetation in sight, lies a makeshift camp for some of Afghanistan's internally displaced.
Among its residents, 9-year-old Parwana. Her bright pink dress squeals of laughter, and childhood games, a ruse to the horrors unfolding in this unhospitable environment.
Parwana's family moved to this camp in Badghis Province four years ago after her father lost his job. Humanitarian aid and menial work earning $3 a day providing the basic staples to survive.
[02:25:00]
COREN: But since the Taliban takeover, 2-1/2 months ago, any money or assistance has dried up. And with eight mouths to feed, Parwana's father is now doing the unthinkable.
I have no work, no money, no food, I have to sell my daughter, he says. I have no other choice.
Parwana who dreams of going to school and becoming a teacher applies makeup. A favorite pastime for little girls, but Parwana knows she is preparing for what awaits her.
My father has sold me because we don't have bread, rice and flour. He has sold me to an old man.
The white bearded man who claims he's 55 years old, comes to collect her. He's bought Parwana for 200,000 Afghanis, just over 2,000 U.S. dollars.
Covered up, Parwana whimpers as her mother hold her.
This is your bride, please take care of her, says Parwana's farther.
Of course, I will take care of her, replies the man.
His large hands grab her small frame. Parwana tries to pull away. As he carries her only bag of belongings, she again resists. Digging her heels into the dirt, but it's futile. The fate of this small helpless child has been sealed.
Child marriage is nothing new in poor rural parts of Afghanistan. But human rights activists are reporting an increase in cases because of the economic and humanitarian crisis engulfing the country.
HEATHER BARR, INTERIM CO-DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: These are devastating decisions that no parent should ever have to make. And it really speaks to what an extraordinary breakdown is happening in Afghanistan right now.
COREN: For months, the U.N. has been warning of a catastrophe. As Afghanistan, a war ravaged aid dependent country descends into a brutal winter.
Billions of dollars in central bank assets were frozen out of the Taliban swept to power in August. Banks are running out of money, wages haven't been paid for months, while food prices soar.
According to the U.N., more than half the population doesn't know where their next meal is coming from. And more than 3 million children under the age of five face acute malnutrition in the coming months.
GUTERRES: People of Afghanistan need a lifeline.
And while a billion dollars has been pledged by U.N. donors to help the Afghan people, less than half those funds have been received, as the international community holds off recognizing the Taliban government.
ISABELLE MOUSSARD CARLSEN, HEAD OF OFFICE, UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: People of Afghanistan will be dying of hunger in the next couple of months. And not just a few. This is just making people more and more vulnerable. And we cannot accept that.
COREN: Sentiment shared by the Taliban.
MAWLAWI ABDUL HAI MOBASHER, TALIBAN OFFICIAL FOR REFUGEES (through translator): We are asking aid agencies to come back to Afghanistan and help these poor people. Otherwise, the crisis will worsen.
COREN: To this family in neighboring Ghor Province, they are trying to sell two daughters, 9-year-old Leton (PH), and 4-year-old Zeton (PH) for 1,000 U.S dollars each.
Do you know why they're selling you? The journalists ask Zeton (PH).
Because we are a poor family and don't have any food to eat, she says.
Are you scared? He asks.
Yes, I am.
Another family in Ghor Province borrowed money from a 70-year-old neighbor. Now, he's demanding it back but they have nothing to give except their 10-year-old daughter Magol (PH).
My daughter doesn't want to go and is crying all the time. I am so ashamed, he says. Terrified, she threatens to take her life.
If they push me to marry the old man, I will kill myself. I don't want to leave my parents.
Days later, she discovers the sale has been finalized.
Another Afghan child sold into a life of misery.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN (on camera): It is just horrific to think what these poor girls, Rosemary will be subjected to. An update to Magol (PH), that 10-year- old girl who we saw in the story, who threatened to kill herself. She will be handed over to the 70-year-old man who bought her in the coming days.
Now, the United Nations says that unless the aid crisis is addressed urgently, that by the middle of next year They're expecting that 97 percent of Afghans will be living below the poverty line, and that means, Rosemary that there will be many more families facing hunger and starvation, and that they will resort to doing what these families have done, and they will sell their little girls. Rosemary.
CHURCH: IT is simply horrifying. And we thank you Anna Coren for shining a light on this. Many thanks, and we'll be right back.
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[02:30:00]
CHURCH: As leaders get ready for day two of the COP26 Climate Summit in Scotland, some of the nation's most vulnerable to global warming say that they are disappointed by the lack of action from wealthy countries. They laid out the dire situation with damning speeches on Monday, warning that inaction is a death sentence.
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IBRAHIM SOLIH, MALDIVES PRESIDENT: The Maldives is often cited as one of those low-lying countries that could disappear off the map because of the climate crisis. Our islands are slowly being in the inundated to the sea one by one. If we do not realize this trend, the Maldives will cease to exist by the end of this century.
WAVEL RAMKALAWAN, SEYCHELLOIS PRESIDENT: We are already gasping for survival. When I hear the expression rise in the sea level, I am scared, because it brings home the awareness that my country's granitic islands will lose all of the economic activities happening around the coast
MIA AMOR MOTTLEY, BARBADOS PRIME MINISTER: Two degrees, yes, S.G. (ph) is a death sentence for the people of Antigua and Barbuda, for the people of the Maldives, for the people of Dominica and Fiji, for the people of Kenya and Mozambique, and yes, for the people of Samoa and Barbados. We do not want that dreaded death sentence.
JOSAIA VOREQE BAINIMARAMA, FIJI PRIME MINISTER: We Pacific nations have not traveled to the other ends of the world to watch our future sacrificed at the altar of appeasement for the world's worst emitters. The existence of our low-lying neighbors is not on the negotiating table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Another low-lying nation at risk in Senegal is Senegal where climate change is already, harming people and their way of life. Residents of the Coastal City of St. Louis are turning into climate refugees as rising sea levels eat away at their homes. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the story.
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[02:35:00]
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): The fisherman's lives have always been tough here in St. Louis in Northern Senegal. Fighting for survival into the harsh Atlantic Ocean. Now, because of climate change, the sea that has always provided for their livelihood is destroying their existence.
Shik Zar (ph) and his family live in what's left of their house, half destroyed by a storm surge knowing full well the rest of the building could be washed away anytime.
We don't have anywhere to go, he says. If we had the means we would move. Where we are living is not safe. We are powerless.
Because of its geography, St. Louis is known as the Venice of Africa. A UNESCO world heritage site once the capital of Senegal, now, facing attrition due to the global climate emergency as erosion takes its toll on the historic buildings and the people dwelling within them.
PLEITGEN (voiceover): Fishing is a profession that spans generations here in St. Louis, but thousands of fishermen and their families have been displaced by global warming as rising sea levels have destroyed many houses here on the coastline.
PLEITGEN (voiceover): There is nothing left of where fishermen Abdullah Atore's (ph) house once stood. He says many who lost their homes have become climate refugees.
There are many young people who already have fled to Spain because they are homeless, he says. They have lost their jobs, many of them are going.
Others have had to move to this tent camp miles away from the ocean. Living in poverty with little hope of improvement.
25-year-old says, Kadi Faal (ph) sayus the situation is unbearable.
We are really tired, she says. There is nothing here. You see, I'm washing my clothes now because I didn't have soap before. That is why I'm doing it now. Really, we are dying.
Rising sea levels are a threat to coastal areas around the world. Already causing an increase in severe flash flooding and storm surges like in the New York and New Jersey area after Hurricane Ida in September. The world needs to act fast or risk having to completely abandoned some coastal regions in the future, especially in the U.S., says climate scientist, Andas Lieberman.
ANDERS LEVERMANN, POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT RESEARCH: The entire East Coast of the U.S., because of changes in the ocean currents, sea levels are rising twice as fast as the East Coast of the U.S. than globally.
PLEITGEN (voiceover): What is a dangerous projection for the world is already is grim reality here in Senegal where the ocean that has defined the lives in this community for so long is now drifting them into an uncertain future.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN, ST. LOUIS, SENEGAL.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And still ahead here on CNN Newsroom, raising against time. Nigerian rescue workers scrambling to find survivors after a deadly building collapse. A live report from Lagos ahead.
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[02:30:00]
CHURCH: That is the scene in Lagos, Nigeria a littler earlier. Sparks flying as rescue workers try to cut through the rubble of a collapsed building. At least five people are now confirmed dead from that collapse and there are fears that many more may be trapped in the debris.
For the very latest, CNN's Stephanie Busari joins me now from the scene of that collapsed building in Lagos.
Stephanie, what more are you learning about this shocking collapse and, of course, the desperate search for survivors?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SUPERVISING EDITOR, AFRICA: Rosemary, rescue and recovery efforts still ongoing. Authorities have said at least five people died, but that number expected to be far higher. Onlookers have gathered this morning, amongst them distraught relatives. We heard a man say, my uncle is in there.
And yes, Monday we witnessed some of the early rescue and recovery efforts. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSARI (voiceover): Anger and confusion in Lagos' affluent (INAUDIBLE) neighborhood. After a luxury apartment building, under construction for the past two years, collapsed. Trapping an unknown number of people beneath the wreckage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We waited like four to five now.
BUSARI (voiceover): Locals upset with what they say was a slow response by authorities. Digging in the rubble by hand to find survivors. Telling CNN, they pulled at least three people from the rubble before rescue teams arrived.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency says, it activated its emergency response plan, sending excavation equipment to the scene. The Nigerian Red Cross now on-site assisting authorities and rescue teams in the search for more survivors. But, so far, only the death toll is rising. But authorities say they aren't giving up hope.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For now, the rescue mission in on and all hands are on deck. We are not leaving until we got to ground zero.
BUSARI (voiceover): Building collapses in Nigeria have increased in recent years, often due to a lack of adherence to regulatory controls, poor knowledge of construction and substandard building materials. The cause of this incident, so far, unknown.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The technical results, the site engineers, the government engineers, will now meet and find out what was the cause. But for now, what we're after is to rescue lives that are there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUSARI (voiceover): Rosemary, as you heard there, these building collapses are sadly frequent in this country. The last time this happened was 2019 when an expert told CNN at the time that there are at least 1,000 buildings at risk of collapse in Justice State alone in Lagos. And authorities say frequently that building developers flout the planning permits.
An official told me privately that this building was actually approved for just 15 stories, but the developer builds it for more than 20 stories. So, that's the battle that regulators here are facing in regulating these buildings. Rosemary.
CHURCH: It is a tragedy. Stephanie Busari joining us live from Lagos, many thanks.
And thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. World Sport is coming up next.
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