Due to their high levels of vulnerability, low adaptive capacity, and widespread poverty, these countries are particularly vulnerable and exposed to extreme climate events such as droughts, floods, storms, and cyclones. These extreme climate events are nowhere more pronounced than in Africa. Understanding the consequences of these extreme climate events is vital in shaping current and future measures that the continent needs to consider.
Based on scientific evidence, 97 percent of climate experts agree that climate change is occurring in response to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs), largely as the result of human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) noted that the highest average global temperatures on record were observed from 2014 to 2020, with 2020 (1.25°C higher than pre-industrial levels) and 2016 (1.1°C higher than pre-industrial levels) hitting the record for the single hottest years. This warming trend is expected to continue long-term, resulting in catastrophic change, unless global action is taken to limit the increase.
Climate change is defined as a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns but most often refers to the rise in global temperatures due to human-produced GHGs from the mid-twentieth century to the present.
Despite contributing the least to these GHGs globally, African countries bear a greater burden from the impact of climate change. Observed consequences are directly linked to temperature and precipitation, which are recognized as the two main indicators that characterize the state of Africa’s climate.
Evidence presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reveals that in recent decades, Africa’s temperatures have been rising, with an increase in heat waves and hot days. Rainfall patterns have been changing, with decreases and increases in precipitation observed in various parts of Africa. The observed changes in climate have resulted in rising sea levels, melting of mountain glaciers, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme climate events such as floods and droughts. Consequences of a changing climate have had devastating impacts on Africa’s key sectors, including agriculture, water, health, biodiversity, settlements, and infrastructure, in turn affecting human health and safety, food and water security, livelihoods, socioeconomic development, and the overall security of people.
Existing challenges such as complex governance and institutional dimensions, widespread poverty, limited access to capital, infrastructure, and technology, complex disasters and conflicts, and ecosystem degradation heighten the continent’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Highlighted below are examples of how extreme climate events have affected African countries.
A Guest Editorial