Mainstreaming climate information into policy formulation in Africa

Climate information is essential for policy, decision-making, and climate action to promote global development agendas like the Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and New Urban Agenda.

Over 45% Africa is dominated by arid or semi-arid climate with high rainfall variability and frequent episodes of weather/climate extremes. Yet, the use of climate information in policy formulation is still embryonic in most African countries.

There is a general increasing trend in weather/climate extremes across Africa. These observed increases would in the future continue with more frequent and severe extremes as the climate system is forced with increasing concentration of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. There is, therefore, a need to integrate climate information into decision-making processes and policy formulation of most African countries, because their economy mostly relies on climate-dependent sectors. For example, agriculture contributes an average of 15% (ranging from 3% to 50%) to the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa, engaging more than half of the continent’s labour force. Also, the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa is mostly rain-fed, making it a highly vulnerable sector to climate change and climate variability. This portends severe implications for human health and security over the continent. These, coupled with the low adaptive capabilities of communities living in sub-Saharan Africa, will increase their exposure to climate-related disasters, which often lead to humanitarian crises, jeopardising decades of socio-economic progress and increasing the risk for food and water insecurity.