A multi-agency report led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is attempting to fill a gap in reliable and timely information on climate change in Africa, with the hopes that better information will spur greater climate-related development planning. 

Along with the report’s release, WMO’s Regional Strategic Office Director Filipe Lucio called for action on two fronts - adaptation “today” and mitigation “tomorrow.” A point made by a Senegalese economist whose work examines climate change impacts on migration in the Sahel, that we interviewed earlier this year in this PERSPECTIVES piece. 

Various strategies are required to address an alarming warming trend in Africa, with northern and southern Africa set to get even drier and hotter, while the Sahel region becomes wetter. 

The report offers policy recommendations in several different areas, reflecting the fact that climate change impacts a variety of sectors in complex ways. In particular, the report’s authors note the importance of addressing agricultural impacts, given the industry’s position as the “backbone of Africa’s economy.” Indeed, climate change is a serious threat to food security around the world, an issue inextricably linked to population displacement. 

Increasing food insecurity and displacement in Africa is a sinister combination, as the report notes. Refugee populations often live in climate ‘hot spots’, where they are particularly vulnerable to both slow and sudden crises, such as desertification or flooding. This can even result in secondary displacement.

For instance, IOM and UNHCR data indicate, 60% of all internal displacements in the East and Horn of Africa in 2019 were due to climate-induced disasters. In particular, pastoralists are highly vulnerable to the combined effects of drought, resource competition and conflict.

Facts and data are plentiful and should be persuasive, but as is our work premise, human impacts are the stories we need to tell, to spur change and filter up to policymakers who need to keep human beings disproportionately affected in the forefront, like our field report from the Sahel’s Lake Chad Basin.

While the report focuses on providing much-needed information for policymakers, it also provides some policy recommendations. For example, the authors highlight the need for strengthened guidance and increased protection for people displaced by environmental degradation and disasters. Additionally, better multi-hazard early warning systems, aimed at reducing the risk of disasters such as typhoons, would undoubtedly help build resilience to a changing climate while reducing the risk of secondary displacement.

In addition to filling information gaps, the report ultimately provides an important reminder that climate policy in Africa requires innovative thinking from policymakers and activists. As Lucio said during the report’s release, “forward thinking analysis” is required in order to anticipate trends and design better, more resilient systems. (UN News)