Extreme Climate Events, Loss and Damage in Africa: Resilience and Adaptation

Background: Africa faces severe climate change impacts resulting from extreme climate events like droughts, floods and heatwaves, which have been threatening livelihoods, ecosystems, and various economic sectors. The compound effects can be linked to immediate losses and long-term damages, perpetuating poverty and inequality. There is a credible body of evidence on climate change impacts, from multiple lines of researches, that documented the impacts of extreme climate events on agriculture and other sectors in Africa. For example, climate change is imposing severe stresses on agriculture, water resources, health, energy, biodiversity, fisheries, infrastructure, tourism, human settlements, forestry, among others, leading to heightened risks for food security, health, economic stability and ecosystem sustainability across the continent. Thus, extreme climate events cause loss and damage and exacerbating vulnerabilities in Africa. Therefore, assessment of loss and damage is crucial for addressing these impacts, acknowledging the effects are unavoidable, requiring specific attention and support. In recent years, loss and damage resulting from climate extreme events has emerged as a critical points of climate change impacts in African continent. To combat extreme weather events and related loss and damage in Africa, a proactive approach and research priority in this regard are highly needed, involving investment in climate science, early warning systems, resilient infrastructure, and prioritizing climate risk assessments in development planning for all African countries.

Therefore, this book aims at highlighting empirical evidences on how African continent has been confronting extreme climate events with the focus on understanding and mitigating climate-induced Loss and Damage in Africa. The book discusses the impact of climate change on Africa, highlighting the economic and non-economic losses and damages. It emphasizes the disproportionate impact on African communities and thus calls for effective mitigation strategies and multidisciplinary methodologies. The book emphasizes the need for inter/intral-disciplinary and multidisciplinary methodology, which incorporates climate science, social sciences and policy studies. The main aim of this book is to enhance Africa's climate resilience by incorporating local knowledge and scientific research, highlighting the voices of affected communities.
This book will have four major sections and each section will consist of different chapters.