According to the climate projections of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report (2014), in the long term, (in all but the low-emissions projections), global warming at the end of the 21st century is likely to be at least 1.5oC. Specifically, with regards to anticipated changes in Africa, evidence suggests that extensive areas of the continent will exceed 2° C by the last two decades of this century relative to the mean annual temperature at the end of the 20th Century (ibid). The rate of global warming will depend on the aggregate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the development pathways adopted globally, but regardless of action taken now to reduce emissions, the world is inadvertently committed to a certain level of global warming by virtue of the emissions that have already occurred and the impacts are increasingly evident.
To be sustainable, all development interventions must take place in the context of a changing climate. For the African continent, decision makers must take full consideration of the total climate change risks - both current and additional future risks that climate change might present, in its development efforts.
Doing this requires the availability of information on relevant climate change hazards (inland flooding, sea level rise, storms, drought/heatwaves, climate zone shift etc...), areas of the country (regions or cities) affected, and sectors most at risk. However at present, this information is not readily available and where the information is available, it is frequently at an inappropriate scale, out of date or there are gaps in information.
Over the past decade, some Climate Change Profiles for African Countries have been made available by organizations such as UNDP, World Bank and German Agency for Development Cooperation (GIZ). Though this information has been very useful, they are not available for all 54 countries, and varies in level of detail and user-friendliness. Information is often provided at scales inappropriate for practical planning purposes, and is rarely made available both on mitigation and adaptation aspects in a single country Climate Change Profile. Although adaptation is of higher priority for African countries, information necessary to inform mitigation action will also increasingly be relevant to inform articulation of initiatives such as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs).
When countries fully understand their level of vulnerability to climate change risks and the contribution of their economic growth pathways to GHG emissions, they will be better able to address climate change in their growth strategies and policies, design climate –resilient and low-carbon investments; understand their capacity building needs and better target and justify their application for climate finance.
The African Development Bank has designed a Climate Safeguards System (CSS) to support the implementation of its Climate Change agenda. The system provides a platform for task managers to screen projects for climate change-related risks and to facilitate the mainstreaming of adaptation measures. The CSS Knowledge data-base could benefit from the compilation/generation of Country Climate Change Profiles to support the mainstreaming of climate change considerations in Country Strategy Papers (CSPs). Furthermore, the system would benefit from access to the most up-to-date information on climate change projections for African countries– to inform decisions on climate-smart development strategies and interventions.This project aims to enhance the capacity of African countries to use climate information to inform the design of development investments.