Building Resilience in African Hotspots: Learning from Collaborative Research

Abstract

Adaptation in Africa’s climate hotspots is context-specific, yet there is value in sharing lessons across sites with geographic and social similarities. Based on collaborative research conducted across 15 countries, this chapter addresses three questions in the hope of better understanding the resilience of people adapting to a changing climate. The first question is: what is the difference between 1.5 and 2 degree of global warming? Many parts of Africa, especially semi-arid lands, are warming faster than the global average with near-term consequences for agriculture, energy, and water. The second question is: how do gender and social difference shape who is vulnerable to climate change? People’s experience of climate change, and their ability to adapt to it, depends on age, gender, class, wealth, and ethnicity. Where someone lives also shapes their exposure, while the decision to migrate can diversify risk and alter household dynamics. The third question is: what is the effectiveness of adaptation from the lived experience of people and communities? Beyond government-led plans, a substantial amount of adaptation happens autonomously as individuals, households, companies, and private actors address the climate risks that affect them, their livelihoods, and their supply chains. Moving forward, climate change adaptation in Africa must work at scale to connect efforts across boundaries. This can be supported through a new generation of collaborative research with a focus on the needs of practitioners and decision-makers to inform future action.