Climate Change Impacts on African Rangelands

Even though Africa has contributed the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, it is considered the continent most susceptible to climate change impacts because of 1) the large proportion of people who live in the sub tropics, a region predicted to be affected by increased temperature and reduced precipitation; 2) the high dependence of people on natural resources, livestock, and agriculture for their livelihoods; 3) extreme poverty in many parts of Africa, which makes it difficult for affected people to respond to an increased incidence of drought and floods; and 4) the degraded state of Africa's natural resources, which renders them less resilient to the impact of higher temperatures and lower and more variable precipitation.

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