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A woman in traditional clothes
walks over open ground in
Ethiopia's drought-hit Borena
zone
By the mid 1990s, sub-Saharan Africa had already been identified by researchers worldwide as a region particularly vulnerable to the consequences of global climate change. The recent fourth assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change looking at vulnerability confirmed it. The effects of climate change are already evident on the ground and the continent's policymakers cannot afford to ignore it anymore.
Why so vulnerable?
But what makes the region so vulnerable? Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa depend on natural resources that are sensitive to changes in climate. Water supplies, for example, already suffer from high rainfall variability in many parts of the continent. With reservoir levels already dangerously low, projected changes in the climate look set to put further pressure on water availability, which may lead to local or regional conflicts and are certain to affect the economic development.
Similarly, a changing climate is likely to affect food security. Over half the African population live in rural areas, dependent on the local environment for food. But the marginal cropping conditions in semi-arid and sub-humid areas - where rainfall is extremely unreliable - have already led to widespread malnutrition. Further climatic variability could leave many African countries reliant on food aid from the West.
Climate change will affect not only natural resource bases but could also have implications for human health. Vector-borne diseases such as malaria are already placing national healthcare systems under strain. Such diseases are driven in part by climate change with several African countries, including Kenya and Uganda, experiencing increases in malaria outbreaks that can largely be explained by recent changes in temperature and rainfall.
How to move forward
But while sub-Saharan Africa is vulnerable to the predicted effects of climate change, the lack of industrial activity and development in the region means it contributes very little to the greenhouse gas emissions at the root of the problem.
Many Africans argue that there is little justice in leaving the continent to face the consequences of the West's economic development alone. They call for more recognition at international negotiations, backed by financial commitments to tailored adaptation strategies.
Others say that portraits of Africa as a passive victim of climate change are inaccurate - there are many examples of small-scale adaptive activities on the continent that deserve recognition. Indeed, the diverse strategies already being employed could prove fundamental in determining how sub-Saharan Africa copes with climate change.
This spotlight looks at some of these issues, with key stakeholders presenting their views on how policymakers in the region can begin to tackle climate change and what the international community must do to help.
Photo credit: Andrew Heavens
This article is reproduced with kind permission of SciDev.net.
