Changing Climate: What The Paris Accord Means For Africa

In December 2015, 195 countries adopted the Paris agreement on climate change — a landmark deal hailed as a diplomatic triumph and a real game changer in the world's response to climate change.

For African negotiators, climate change is not just an academic issue. The fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented strong evidence that warming in Africa has increased significantly over the past 50 to 100 years, with clear effects on the health, livelihoods and food security of people in Africa. The panel expects extreme weather events, including droughts, floods and heat waves, to become more frequent and estimates that agricultural yield losses could reach 22 percent across sub-Saharan Africa. Across the continent, Africa faces significant environmental challenges, including deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, as well as rising sea levels and depleting fish stocks.