Impact of, and Adaptation to, Climate Change in Agro-Ecological Zones in Africa

FEATURES

Climate Change: The Final Blow for Agriculture in Africa? (August 2007) Climate Change and Agriculture in Africa (Fall 2007)

Policy makers could greatly benefit from a tool that is tailored to provide both impact assessment and adaptation options in a ‘quilt’, rather than a ‘blanket’ approach.  The proposed quilt policy approach will allow much more flexibility and may prove to be both a socially preferred and cost effective policy. 

Because of the already severe climates, great diversity in agro-climatic conditions and level of economic and institutional ability of agriculture, Africa is the focus of this study. The work focuses on a well known delineation of agricultural production conditions—the Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZ).  The analysis takes advantage of existing information dividing the African continent into AEZs. 

The objectives of this study are:

• to provide a range of estimated climate impacts to various farm types across AEZ’s in Africa, and 
• to estimate the benefits from, and (if possible), the cost of policy interventions that would allow farmers to adapt to climate change. 

The study uses economic farm data from a recently completed GEF/World Bank study.