Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in the semi-arid regions of west Africa

The paper provides an overview of demographic and economic facts and trends in West Africa in general, and Ghana and Mali in particular, with country data snapshots. It examines the development dynamics in the semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas that comprise a significant portion of the West African drylands. Climate vulnerability in the West African context includes extensification of agriculture onto increasingly marginal drought-prone soils, reduced mobility of pastoralists, and the increasing prevalence of built structures to store river water. This increases sensitivity and exposure of downstream water users to low water levels and drought. The paper provides in-depth analysis and policy recommendations.Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC)UK’s Department for International Development (DFID

Vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in the semi-arid regions of West Africa

This series is based on work funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) through the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA).This report, which encompasses the findings of a Regional Diagnostic Study (RDS) for West Africa, was undertaken in 2014-15 to advance understanding of climate change in semi-arid regions of Africa and Asia. The RDS represents the first phase of a research effort under the Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions (ASSAR) project. ASSAR is one of four consortia generating new knowledge of climate change hotspots under the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA1). The ASSAR project operates in Western, Eastern and Southern Africa and Western India. The ASSAR focal countries in Africa are Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, Botswana, and Namibia, and in India the focal states are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Karnataka

Earth System Governance in Africa: knowledge and capacity needs

Traditional approaches for understanding environmental governance - such as environmental policy analysis or natural resources management - do not adequately address the gamut of human-natural system interactions within the context of the complex biogeophysical cycles and processes of the planet. This is perhaps more so in the African regional context where the complex relationships between modern and traditional governance systems and global change dynamics are arguably more pronounced. The Earth System Governance (ESG) Analytical Framework encompasses diverse systems and actors involved in the regulation of societal activities and behaviors vis-a-vis earth system dynamics. The concept encompasses a myriad of public and private actors and actor networks at all levels of policy and decision-making. The existence of, and interaction among, these diverse actors and systems, however, is under-researched in the African context. Various research approaches taken to address crucial global environmental change (GEC) challenges in Africa have proven to be inadequate because they tend to overlook the complex interactions among the various local actors, players, and indigenous conditions and practices vis-a-vis GEC system drivers and teleconnections. Similarly, the regional peculiarities in terms of governance typologies and sociocultural diversity highlight the need for nuanced understanding of the complex interactions and nexuses among multiple actors and interests and Earth system processes. However, this diversity and complexity has often been lost in generalized enquiries. We argue that examination of the governance-GEC nexus through the aid of the ESG Framework would provide a much broader and more helpful insight