Managing Africa’s transboundary climate risks, with pastoralism cases

Transboundary climate risks can set back economic development gains, jeopardise trade and food security and impact infrastructure investments. The policy brief “How can Africa manage the transboundary climate risks it faces?” by Sarah Optiz-Stapleton et al (2023, 11pp), published by SPARC (Supporting Pastoralism and Agriculture in Recurrent and Protracted Crises), highlights five significant transboundary climate risks in Africa – biophysical, financial, trade, people-centred and geopolitical. The authors draw on examples to show how these risks create significant impacts for other countries. The people-centred example is that of transhumance in the Karamoja area, where pastoralism is the main source of livelihood; the geopolitical example is that of security challenges to pastoralist livelihoods on the Uganda–Kenya border.

The brief points out that foreign investment in infrastructure are a critical part of Africa’s “green” development agenda, but infrastructure not resilient to climate-change extremes is at risk of damage, poor performance or destruction. The authors give some recommendations for how the African Union, regional economic communities and their Member States can work together to manage these risks, especially in areas such as trade, regional infrastructure and agriculture, including pastoralism.

The full brief can be found here and the 2-page summary here – and on the SPARC website.

Posted on 28 March 2024 in Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism & Peacebuilding, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralism, Policy & Power