Climate risk management in Africa : learning from practice

The Climate and Society series is devoted to providing authoritative and accessible information on climate risk management research, practice, and policy in support of sustainable development. The series is a program of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). IRI aims to contribute to sustainable living and poverty reduction, through the integration of climate information into management strategies for climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, food security, water resources, and health. IRI is a member of The Climate and Society editorial team is always looking for new ideas for future issues in the series. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which provided its support under cooperative agreement NA050AR4311004. DFID is leading the British government's fight against world poverty. One in five people in the world today, over 1 billion people, live on less than US$1 a day. In an increasingly interdependent world, many problems – including conflict, crime, pollution, and diseases such as HIV and AIDS – are caused or aggravated by poverty. DFID supports long-term programs to help eliminate the underlying causes of poverty. DFID also responds to emergencies, both natural and man-made. NOAA is an agency within the US Department of Commerce whose mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet national economic, social and environmental needs. The agency is a leader in applied scientific research in climate, weather and water, ecosystems, and commerce and transportation, and provides environmental stewardship services and information products to assist society to understand the role of the oceans, coasts and atmosphere in the global ecosystem to make the best social and economic decisions. Disclaimer Final responsibility for the views expressed in this report lies with the editorial team, which has distilled them from the material provided by the report's many contributors. The views are not necessarily those of DFID or NOAA. All rights reserved. The publisher encourages fair use of this material provided proper citation is made. No reproduction, copy, or transmission of this report may be made without written permission of the publisher. The impact of climate change will fall disproportionately on the world's poorest countries, many of them here in Africa. Poor people already live on the front lines of pollution, disaster, and the degradation of resources and land. For them, adaptation is a matter of sheer survival. iv Acknowledgments Many people contributed to the preparation …