Climate change in Africa
This is due to home construction materials, lack of ventilation, sparse green space, and poor access to electrical power and other services.
[21] The main source of uncertainty comes from carbon dioxide fluxes in the LULUCF sector (this acronym stands for land use, land-use change, and forestry).
[13][12] Current climate models (as summarised in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report) predict increases in frequency and intensity of drought and heavy rainfall events.
Scientific studies estimate that 12 major African cities would collectively sustain cumulative damages of US$65 billion for the "moderate" climate change scenario RCP4.5 by 2050.
These cities are Abidjan, Alexandria, Algiers, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Lagos, Lomé, Luanda and Maputo.
The recent drought in many African countries, which has been linked to climate change, adversely affected both energy security and economic growth across the continent.
[31] Pronounced risks identified for Africa in the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report relate to ecosystems, water availability, and agricultural systems, with implications for food security.
[44] Observed and projected disruptions in precipitation patterns due to climate change are likely to shorten growing seasons and affect crop yield in many parts of Africa.
[51] The invasion was partially attributed to climate change – the warmer temperature and heavier rainfall which caused an abnormal increase in the number of locusts.
[51] In East Africa, climate change is anticipated to intensify the frequency and intensity of drought and flooding, which can have an adverse impact on the agricultural sector.
[55] Climate change will exacerbate the vulnerability of the agricultural sector in most Southern African countries which are already limited by poor infrastructure and a lag in technological inputs and innovation.
[59] Higher rainfall intensity, prolonged dry spells and high temperatures are expected to negatively impact cassava, maize and bean production in Central Africa.
[66] Climate change is likely to further exacerbate water-stressed catchments across Africa – for example the Rufiji basin in Tanzania[67] – owing to diversity of land uses, and complex sociopolitical challenges.
[68] Infectious disease burdens such as malaria, schistosomiasis, dengue fever, meningitis, which are sensitive to climate impacts, are highest in the sub-Saharan African region.
According to the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report, climate change poses a significant threat to the health of tens of millions of Africans, as it exposes them to non-optimal temperatures, extreme weather, and an increased range and transmission rate of infectious diseases.
[69] Climate change, and resulting in increased temperatures, storms, droughts, and rising sea levels, will affect the incidence and distribution of infectious disease across the globe.
[82] According to this report, environmental stresses in Sudan are interlinked with other social, economic and political issues, such as population displacement and competition over natural resources.
Due to its high climate variability and rainfed agriculture, Central Africa is expected to experience longer and more frequent heatwaves as well as an increase in wet extremes.
[94] Consistent with the uncertainty in rainfall projections, changes in rainy seasons onset are uncertain in equatorial Eastern Africa, although many models predict a later and wetter short rains.
[110] These emissions are mostly from the energy sector,[111] an integral component of many Middle Eastern and North African economies due to the extensive oil and natural gas reserves that are found within the region.
The seasonal cycle of rainfall is mainly driven by the south-north movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which is characterised by the confluence between moist southwesterly monsoon winds and the dry northeasterly Harmattan.
[132][133][134] These trends will affect the frequency and severity of floods, droughts, desertification, sand and dust storms, desert locust plagues and water shortages.
To reduce the impacts of climate change on African countries, adaptation measures are required at multiple scales – ranging from local to national and regional levels.
[153] According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sub-Saharan Africa requires $30–$50 billion in additional financing each year to adapt to the effects of climate change.
GDP per capita is not likely to rebound to 2019 levels until 2024, with risks tilting to the downside, and the crisis has reversed a predicted drop in the number of poor people, according to the IMF.
Reduced water availability, in turn, interacts with increasing temperatures to create need for adaptation among rainfed wheat production[162][163] and changing disease risk (for example from leishmaniasis).
Countries like Rwanda and Kenya have prioritized developing irrigated areas by gravity water systems from perennial streams and rivers in zones vulnerable to prolonged droughts.
Comoros – "NAPA is the operational extension of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), as it includes among its adaptation priorities, agriculture, fishing, water, housing, health, but also tourism, in an indirect way, through the reconstitution of basin slopes and the fight against soils erosion, and therefore the protection of reefs by limiting the silting up by terrigenous contributions.
And according to the World Bank's Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Malawi, can "take steps to jumpstart investments in climate-resilient infrastructure and halt land degradation and forest loss to improve agriculture productivity and carbon capture" [195]" Mauritius – adaptation should address the following priority areas: coastal resources, agriculture, water resources, fisheries, health and well-being, land use change and forestry and biodiversity.
[201] Zambia – "The NAPA identifies 39 urgent adaptation needs and 10 priority areas within the sectors of agriculture and food security (livestock, fisheries and crops), energy and water, human health, natural resources and wildlife.
