Africa

Key policy advice from World Development Report 2010 and Making Development Climate Resilient: A World Bank Strategy for
Sub-Saharan Africa - Act Now, Act Together, Act Differently

"Over the past ten years, Sub-Saharan Africa has made a great deal of progress in terms of economic growth. In fact, Africa has the potential to emerge as an exciting new center of growth in the evolving global economy. However, to continue on an accelerated growth path, the region needs to tackle climate variability and climate change, which now pose a daunting risk to growth, development, and poverty reduction. Climate is hardly a new factor in the region's history, but with global warming, Africa's vulnerability is deepening, making it the most exposed region in the world to the impacts of climate change. The hard-won progress of recent years could be reversed with extreme weather, crop failures, and outbreaks of hunger and disease."

Climate change presents humanity with its largest challenge in recorded history. Its predicted eff ects over the coming decades include extreme weather events, droughts, fl ooding, rising sea levels that could affect countries such as Nigeria and Mozambique, retreating glaciers (although not in Africa, but with global impact), changes in habitats and increased spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria.

Little concrete analysis has been published on the relationship between climate change and conflict, however, and even less on the potential role that population growth plays in intensifying that pressure.