Four ways Africa is already seeing the effects of climate change – and what can be done about it

Africa is already being heavily affected by climate change. Between 1991 and 2023, the African continent warmed at a rate of 0.3°C per decade, a rate slightly faster than the global average. This has brought more frequent and severe weather extremes.

The cost of adapting to these changes and events is also immense. This was emphasised in a recent report by the World Meteorological Organization. The UN agency found that, on average, African countries were losing 2%-5% of their GDP – a measure of economic output – annually and many were diverting up to 9% of their budgets in response to climate extremes.

The report estimates that the cost of adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa ranges from US$30 billion to US$50 billion annually over the next decade.

The Conversation Africa has been tracking the impact of climate change on the African continent. Our authors have written articles that shed light on where some of these biggest climate impacts are already being felt. They also offer insights into how this can be mitigated.

Here’s a selection of reads.

Heat stressed animals

Livestock are vital to the livelihoods of millions of people across Africa. But it’s a sector that’s going to be hard hit by climate change. Unless massive adaptation measures are put in place, the number of extreme heat events driven by climate change – especially in the continent’s tropics – is set to rise.

Livestock experts Polly Ericksen and Laura Cramer explain that poultry and pigs already face major heat stress challenges in many regions of the tropics where they are currently raised. The same is true for all five major domesticated species in large swathes of west Africa, where heat stress is likely to make it nearly impossible for livestock to be kept outdoors.

They argue that, even under relatively mild but realistic climate scenarios, it will be necessary to reconfigure and relocate agricultural systems.

They set out various ways in which the International Livestock Research Institute is trying to mitigate the impact. They include index based livestock insurance programmes, community land management programmes and working with farmers to help them to adapt.

Transport infrastructure – such as roads and railways – is another sector that’s already being threatened by climate change.

For instance, a report on Tanzania found that long stretches of road and rail networks are exposed to extreme flooding events, and exposure will grow in the future.

Damage to these networks can disrupt the flow of goods and people – which will have a negative impact on the country’s economy. The report estimated that worst-case disruptions to Tanzania’s transport networks could cause losses of up to US$1.4 million per day.

Environmental engineers Amani George Rweyendela and William John Mwegoha put forward a solution which already exists within the planning machinery of governments: environmental impact assessments.

In their work, which investigated Tanzania’s US$14.2 billion standard gauge railway project, they showed how environmental impact assessment can be used to identify climate risks and ensure that they are minimised during the project design.

They did this by carrying out climate projections along the railway’s proposed route and outlined adaptation measures for the projected risks. Recommendations included using heat-resistant asphalt, installing flood defence walls and using reinforced steel.

Their study demonstrates the huge potential of environmental impact assessments to foster adaptation in transport projects.

Health impacts

As the world gets warmer, this will bring significant implications for our health. Public health expert Lenore Manderson unpacks some of them:

• High temperatures cause heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular disease.
• Drought will affect food and water systems. Millions of people will be left without proper nutrition and water shortages will heighten the risk of organ failure and death.
• Viral and bacterial infectious diseases, especially prevalent in Africa, are set to rise. For instance, there is growing evidence of mosquito migration to higher altitudes, infecting people who have not been exposed to mosquito-borne diseases before.

Changing weather patterns are also having an impact on Africa’s mountains. Physical geographer Jasper Knight explains that it’s affecting their climate, weathering and erosion processes, soils, ecosystems and water resources.

This will have a knock-on effect on geological hazards, regional economies and cultural practices.

Moina Spooner, Assistant Editor, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.