Climate Change’s Crippling Effect on Africa
The African farming communities that have scrapped by with low food resources and water scarcity for generations now face an obstacle that could led to their ultimate destruction.
With climate change elevating temperatures, ensuing droughts and proliferating disease, African countries that have not adapted to economies outside of agriculture must do so in the next 50 to 100 years, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Temperatures in Africa rose .5 degrees Celsius in the past century, and the climate is expected to heat up at a more rapid rate to 2 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.
The IPCC predicts that Africa will endure the greatest burden of all areas affected by climate change. Along with the continent’s stagnant development, mere geography places Africa in the worst position. Countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Mali—already some of the hottest in the world—are set to heat up 1.5 times more than the rest of the world.
CIFOR