Causes of Climate Change and Its Impact in the Multi-Sectoral Areas in Africa-Need for Enhanced Adaptation Policies

Abstract

Africa has experienced climate change since the late Holocene which intensified in the last century mainly due to factors such as the changes brought about by the colonial administration, which led to rapid population growth from improved healthcare systems and infrastructure, and organised agriculture. Recent studies on climate change and its impact on Africa indicate that the continent is more vulnerable to climate change than other continents because of inadequate resources. The effect of climatic change has worsened in the last fifty years, mainly due to heavy pollution and the greenhouse effect caused by the industries in the developed countries and in the newly industrialized nation such as India, China, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and others. Recent studies on climate change in Africa has shown that population growth has led to decline of forest cover, increased land and environmental degradation, leading to severe ecological disruption. This change has wreaked and continued to cause severe damage to Africa’s infrastructure, health and economy. Global warming related floods have destroyed roads, crops, water sources, and killed both people, livestock and wildlife. Droughts too have caused similar problem if not worse destruction. Africa’s poverty makes it difficult for the people to mitigate their losses and to adapt to the conditions. It is, therefore, necessary for African countries and its leaders to adopt policies and laws which deliberately aim at addressing the problems created by climate change. These policies should be tilted towards adaptation rather than mitigation since African countries generally lacks the capacity. The objective of this paper is to create policy awareness on the causes of climatic change and its impact on sectoral systems in order to prioritise timely knowledge-based policy decision for stimulated green growth development opportunities. The findings and the conclusion are based on the available literature.