Description
Over recent years climate change and its impacts on development and security have become a key concern for policy makers around the world. After decades in which technological innovation, human ingenuity and adaptation and international trade appeared to have overcome many traditional scarcities, the effects of climate change are posing new threats to sustainable growth and development. Africa is considered to be “one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change and climate variability, a situation aggravated by the interaction of “multiple stresses’, occurring at various levels, and low adaptive capacity.” (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - IPCC 2007).
This study published by the OECD in its project ‘Security implications of climate change in the Sahel region’ [1] aims to increase understanding of the linkages and impacts of climate change and security and on how climate change could contribute to insecurity in the future. This paper summarises and brings together the conclusions of the analyses carried out and identifies key issues for policy makers, specific interest for future work and gaps and uncertainties in existing research.
[1] For this analysis the Sahel has been defined as the region lying between 12°N and 20°N longitude, covering the semi-arid and arid climate zones. It covers all or parts of 12 countries from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea: Senegal, the Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.
Information
- Author(s)
- Philipp Heinrigs
- Publisher
- OECD, SAHEL AND WEST AFRICA Club, Secretariat
- Place published
- Paris
- Date / journal vol no.
- February 2011
- Pages
- 31 pages
