Maize systems under climate change in sub-Saharan Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kindie Tesfaye ◽  
Sika Gbegbelegbe ◽  
Jill E Cairns ◽  
Bekele Shiferaw ◽  
Boddupalli M Prasanna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Socioeconomic Impacts ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Maize Varieties ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change ◽  
Bioeconomic Models

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the biophysical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change on maize production and food security in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using adapted improved maize varieties and well-calibrated and validated bioeconomic models. Design/methodology/approach – Using the past climate (1950-2000) as a baseline, the study estimated the biophysical impacts of climate change in 2050 (2040-2069) and 2080 (2070-2099) under the A1B emission scenario and three nitrogen levels, and the socioeconomic impacts in 2050. Findings – Climate change will affect maize yields across SSA in 2050 and 2080, and the extent of the impact at a given period will vary considerably between input levels, regions and maize mega environments (MMEs). Greater relative yield reductions may occur under medium and high-input intensification than under low intensification, in Western and Southern Africa than in Eastern and Central Africa and in lowland and dry mid-altitude than in highland and wet mid-altitude MMEs. Climate change may worsen food insecurity in SSA in 2050 through its negative impact on maize consumption and reduction in daily calorie intake. However, international trade has the potential to offset some of the negative impacts. Originality/value – The study calibrated and applied bioeconomic models to estimate the biophysical and socioeconomic impact of climate change on maize production at fine resolution. The results could be used as a baseline to evaluate measures that will be applied to adapt maize to the future climate in SSA.

scholarly journals Climate Change Impacts on Sustainable Maize Production in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelvin Mulungu ◽  
John Ng'ombe
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Agricultural Potential ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the commonly grown grain crops and remains a source of staple food and food security for most countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). But climate change threatens agricultural potential in SSA thereby risking food security especially that most maize production is rain-fed in these countries. Thus, numerous studies have examined impacts of climate change on maize production and productivity resulting in several adaption strategies being promoted to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. But to the best of our knowledge, there has not been any studies in literature that provide a review of impacts of climate change on maize production and productivity in SSA. This chapter therefore provides a review of empirical climate change impacts on maize production and its productivity in SSA. We chose SSA because most countries in SSA are underdeveloped and therefore more vulnerable to climate change effects. This is important because this review will provide an easier access of such results for both scholars and policy makers in search of empirical impacts of climate change on maizeproduction and productivity in SSA.

Extreme weather highlights longer-term Canada concerns

2022 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
Extreme Cold ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Ways Of Life ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Significance The extreme cold comes as the province is still dealing with the damage caused by unprecedented levels of heat and wildfires last summer and then record levels of rainfall and flooding in November. Its experience has focused attention on Canada’s wider vulnerability to the impact of shifting weather patterns and climate change. Impacts The natural resource sectors that are vital to Canada’s economy face an increasingly difficult environment for extraction. Indigenous peoples across the country will see their traditional ways of life further disrupted by climate change. The increasingly evident impacts of climate change on day-to-day life will see voters demand greater action from government. Significant investment in green initiatives, clean energy and climate resiliency initiatives will boost green industries.

“Does the poor matter” in pro-poor driven sub-Saharan African cities? towards progressive and inclusive pro-poor tourism

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regis Musavengane ◽  
Pius Siakwah ◽  
Llewellyn Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Urban Tourism ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
African Cities ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to question the extent to which Sub-Saharan African cities are progressing towards promoting pro-poor economies through pro-poor tourism (PPT). It specifically examines how African cities are resilient towards attaining sustainable urban tourism destinations in light of high urbanization. Design/methodology/approach The methodological framework is interpretive in nature and qualitative in an operational form. It uses meta-synthesis to evaluate the causal relationships observed within Sub-Saharan African pro-poor economies to enhance PPT approaches, using Accra, Ghana, Johannesburg, South Africa, and Harare, Zimbabwe, as case studies. Findings Tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been dominantly underpinned by neoliberal development strategies which threaten the sustainability of tourism in African cities. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to three Sub-Saharan African countries. Further studies may need to be done in other developing countries. Practical implications It argues for good governance through sustainability institutionalization which strengthens the regulative mechanisms, processes and organizational culture. Inclusive tourism approaches that are resilient-centered have the potential to promote urban tourism in Sub-Saharan African cities. These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive Institutions for Sustainable Development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Social implications These findings contribute to the building of strong and inclusive institutions for sustainable development in the Sub-Saharan African cities to alleviate poverty. Originality/value The “poor” are always within the communities, and it takes a community to minimise the impact of poverty among the populace. The study is conducted at a pertinent time when most African government’s development policies are pro-poor driven. Though African cities provide opportunities of growth, they are regarded as centres of high inequality.

Innovation, institutions and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa – an IV estimation of a panel threshold model

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Ato Forson ◽  
Rosemary Afrakomah Opoku ◽  
Michael Owusu Appiah ◽  
Evans Kyeremeh ◽  
Ibrahim Anyass Ahmed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Innovation Policy ◽  
Threshold Model ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Panel Regressions ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe significant impact of innovation in stimulating economic growth cannot be overemphasized, more importantly from policy perspective. For this reason, the relationship between innovation and economic growth in developing economies such as the ones in Africa has remained topical. Yet, innovation as a concept is multi-dimensional and cannot be measured by just one single variable. With hindsight of the traditional measures of innovation in literature, we augment it with the number of scientific journals published in the region to enrich this discourse.Design/methodology/approachWe focus on an approach that explores innovation policy qualitatively from various policy documents of selected countries in the region from three policy perspectives (i.e. institutional framework, financing and diffusion and interaction). We further investigate whether innovation as perceived differently is important for economic growth in 25 economies in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1990–2016. Instrumental variable estimation of a threshold regression is used to capture the contributions of innovation as a multi-dimensional concept on economic growth, while dealing with endogeneity between the regressors and error term.FindingsThe results from both traditional panel regressions and IV panel threshold regressions show a positive relationship between innovation and economic growth, although the impact seems negligible. Institutional quality dampens innovation among low-regime economies, and the relation is persistent regardless of when the focus is on aggregate or decomposed institutional factors. The impact of innovation on economic growth in most regressions is robust to different dimensions of innovation. Yet, the coefficients of the innovation variables in the two regimes are quite dissimilar. While most countries in the region have offered financial support in the form of budgetary allocations to strengthen institutions, barriers to the design and implementation of innovation policies may be responsible for the sluggish contribution of innovation to the growth pattern of the region.Originality/valueSegregating economies of Africa into two distinct regimes based on a threshold of investment in education as a share of GDP in order to understand the relationship between innovation and economic growth is quite novel. This lends credence to the fact that innovation as a multifaceted concept does not take place by chance – it is carefully planned. We have enriched the discourse of innovation and thus helped in deepening understanding on this contentious subject.

scholarly journals Impacts of Climate Change on Outdoor Workers and their Safety: Some Research Priorities

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (18) ◽  
pp. 3458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moda ◽  
Filho ◽  
Minhas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Heat Exposure ◽  
Extreme Heat ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Outdoor Workers ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

The literature on the potential impacts of climate change on the health of outdoor workers has received limited attention as a whole, and in sub-Saharan African countries in particular. Yet, substantial numbers of workers are experiencing the health effects of elevated temperature, in combination with changes in precipitation patterns, climate extremes and the effects of air pollution, which have a potential impact on their safety and wellbeing. With increased temperatures within urban settlements and frequent heats waves, there has been a sudden rise in the occurrence of heat-related illness leading to higher levels of mortality, as well as other adverse health impacts. This paper discusses the impacts of extreme heat exposure and health concerns among outdoor workers, and the resultant impacts on their productivity and occupational safety in tropical developing countries with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, where there is a dearth of such studies. Aside from the direct effects caused by extreme heat exposure, other indirect health hazards associated with increasing heat among this group includes exposures to hazardous chemicals and other vector-borne diseases. In addition, reduced work capacity in heat-exposed jobs will continue to rise and hinder economic and social development in such countries. There is an urgent need for further studies around the health and economic impacts of climate change in the workplace, especially in tropical developing countries, which may guide the implementation of the measures needed to address the problem.

Does economic freedom improve health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa?

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (12) ◽  
pp. 1633-1649
Author(s):  
Anand Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of economic freedom on four key health indicators (namely, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate) by using a panel dataset of 34 sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016.Design/methodology/approachThe study obtains data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank and the Fraser Institute. It uses fixed effects regression to estimate the effect of economic freedom on health outcomes and attempts to resolve the endogeneity problems by using two-stage least squares regression (2SLS).FindingsThe results indicate a favourable impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. That is, higher levels of economic freedom reduce mortality rates and increase life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa. All areas of economic freedom, except government size, have a significant and positive effect on health outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThis study analyses the effect of economic freedom on health at a broad level. Country-specific studies at a disaggregated level may provide additional information about the impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. Also, this study does not control for some important variables such as education, income inequality and foreign aid due to data constraints.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that sub-Saharan African countries should focus on enhancing the quality of economic institutions to improve their health outcomes. This may include policy reforms that support a robust legal system, protect property rights, promote free trade and stabilise the macroeconomic environment. In addition, policies that raise urbanisation, increase immunisation and lower the incidence of HIV are likely to produce a substantial improvement in health outcomes.Originality/valueExtant economic freedom-health literature does not focus on endogeneity problems. This study uses instrumental variables regression to deal with endogeneity. Also, this is one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the relationship between economic freedom and health in the case of sub-Saharan Africa.

El Nino spells multiple humanitarian crises for Africa

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Weather System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Humanitarian Crises ◽  
Cocoa Production ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

Subject Outlook for El Nino in sub-Saharan Africa. Significance The current El Nino weather system, one of the three strongest since 1950, is causing drought in some areas and flooding in others. Past instances have resulted in significant drops in agricultural production, livestock deaths, infrastructure damage and lost income. Together with likely higher incidence of disease, similar effects could trigger humanitarian crises across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Impacts Poor sanitation infrastructure in many major SSA cities will facilitate the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera. In Southern Africa, strong institutions overseeing intra-regional water sharing will limit prospects for diplomatic disputes over water. Unusual rain and wind patterns in West Africa could curb cocoa production, creating shortages that will push up global prices. Likely lower agricultural output across SSA will compound the impact of low commodity prices on cooling GDP growth.

Economic impacts of climate change and variability on agricultural production in the Middle East and North Africa region

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Alboghdady ◽  
Salah E. El-Hendawy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change And Variability ◽  
Cent Increase ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of climate change and variability on agricultural production in Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) where the deleterious impacts of climate change are generally projected to be greatest. Design/methodology/approach The study used a production function model using Fixed Effect Regression (FER) analysis and then using marginal impact analysis to assess the impact of climate change and variability on agricultural production. Therefore, the study utilized panel data for the period 1961-2009 pooled from 20 countries in MENA region. Findings Results showed that 1 per cent increase in temperature during winter resulted in 1.12 per cent decrease in agricultural production. It was also observed that 1 per cent increase in temperature variability during winter and spring resulted in 0.09 and 0.14 per cent decrease in agricultural production, respectively. Results also indicated that increasing precipitation during winter and fall season and precipitation variability during winter and summer seasons had negative impact. The estimated parameters of square temperature and precipitation indicated that climate change has significant nonlinear impacts on agricultural production in MENA region. Originality/value Despite there are many studies on the impact of climate change on agricultural production, there is a lack of publications to address the economic impact of both climate change and variability on agricultural production in MENA region. Thus, these results are more comprehensive and more informative to policymakers than the results from field trials.

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