scholarly journals The Readiness Index for Climate Change Adaptation in Africa: The Role of Climate and Adaptive Capacity Proxies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 9413
Author(s):  
Terence Epule Epule ◽  
Abdelghani Chehbouni ◽  
Driss Dhiba ◽  
Mirielle Wase Moto

As global changes continue, the repercussions in Africa remain profound. This is reflected notably in food and water crises across Africa. This work examines the readiness of Africa to climate change adaptation through a newly developed readiness index (ClimAdaptCap Index). In fact, this work shifts the readiness debate from emotional descriptions that currently flood academic scholarship to a more pragmatic evidence-based approach in assessing readiness. Readiness for climate change adaptation is driven by the intensity of climate forcing and adaptive capacity. The historical climate score data or precipitation and temperature for the period 1991–2016 were culled from the World Bank Climate Portal. The historical adaptive capacity score data included proxies such as poverty and literacy rates from 1991 to 2016 were collected from the World Bank and Macrotrends. The climate data were normalized using the normalization function to enhance interpretation, comparison, and fusion into the index. Missing poverty and literacy rate data were estimated by linear interpolation of the poverty and literacy rate data. The ClimAdaptCap Index was developed to compute readiness. This index is the first of its kind and will serve as a flagship for assessing readiness for climate change adaptation as it is highly adaptable to different contexts. This work’s first-ever maps of readiness show that North and Southern Africa are the readiest for climate change adaptation under historical climate and literacy and poverty conditions. West Africa is the least ready while Middle and East Africa are in the middle. Consistent is that readiness has a positive correlation with literacy rates and an inverse one with poverty rates. In addition, with readiness scores of between 0.35 and 0.39 for all the regions with a maximum potential score of 1, this work has shown that the level of readiness in Africa is generally low, and there is a very small variation between the different regions. In addition, climate change adaptation will highly be influenced by both climatic and non-climatic indicators. The developed readiness index adequately simulates readiness to climate change adaptation in Africa and complements previous frameworks of adaptation preparedness.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wullianallur Raghupathi ◽  
Viju Raghupathi

In this article, the authors use analytics to explore the association between economic growth and climate change at a country-level. They examine different indicators to better understand the macro issues and guide policy decision-making. The authors analyze global economic growth and climate change using the World Bank data of 131 countries and 16 indicators for the period 2005 to 2010. The analysis shows overall economic growth is positively associated with climate change. This implies country leaders should design and implement structured development plans if they are to promote economic growth to alleviate poverty while simultaneously mitigating climate change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6A) ◽  
pp. 123-130
Author(s):  
Gbolahan S. Osho ◽  
Arinola C. Ebalunode

Literacy rate is a major indicator of economic and social development, the campaign for growth and improvement in this area by several international organizations have caused significant growth in all major regions of the world. The persistent theme to these various programs is that illiteracy is nonetheless prevalent in the world and more study needed to eradicate it, thus generates a significant interest in this issue. Therefore, the primary goal of this current study is to compare five major regions in the world as classified by the World Bank in regards to the differences which exist in literacy. The study concludes that literacy rates of male and female across the regions are different for Youth literacy between the age of 15 and 24. The vast conclusion is that that there is a no significant difference in male literacy among the regions in the world except for Africa. While no significant difference in female literacy among the regions in the world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 01-08
Author(s):  
Robert Skopec

'Greening' our current economic system can only take us so far. GTS/Shutterstock You may have missed it, but a recent report declared that the main strategy of world leaders for tackling climate change won’t work. It’s called green growth, and it’s favoured by some of the largest and most influential organisations in the world, including the United Nations and the World Bank.


2020 ◽  
Vol 690 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-191
Author(s):  
Linda Lopez

Growth in international migration is attributable to conflicts and war, food insecurity, violence, and lack of economic opportunity. Additionally, according to the World Bank, the world could see more than 140 million people move within countries by 2050, and many expect that climate change will lead to even greater migration and displacement. Cities are on the front lines in creating innovative policy and programs to integrate immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Los Angeles has developed programs and policies to ensure that newcomers have the opportunity to thrive economically, civically, and to obtain key city services such as healthcare and financial support. This article examines a few innovative models aimed at addressing integration for migrant and refugee populations in L.A. and provides recommendations for how cities can replicate these models.


Author(s):  
Wendy Miles ◽  
Merryl Lawry-White

Abstract In 2015, States concluded the landmark Paris Agreement, which committed to a long-term goal of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”. The Paris Agreement galvanises all signatory nations in a common cause — combating climate change and adapting to and investigating its effects, and with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort. The goals of the Paris Agreement will only be achieved through massive investment in pursuit of a common objective. According to the International Finance Corporation, an estimated US$90 trillion investment is required to implement the Paris Agreement. The current regime of international investment agreements (IIAs) provides an invaluable opportunity to promote the investment required to achieve the Paris Agreement objectives, including mitigation, adaptation and transition from fossil fuels. However, users must take care to ensure that investment is, in fact, protected and encouraged, and to maintain critical progress in promoting international climate change policy. ICSID is one of the five arms of the World Bank Group, which recognises that “[c]limate change is a threat to the core mission of the World Bank Group”. The ICSID Convention is also designed to promote international private investment. As such, ICSID sits at an important nexus in this discussion. This article: (i) provides an overview of several influential arbitration decisions relating to international environmental disputes, and the way in which the existing climate change regime uses arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism; (ii) examines the evolution of investment treaties, prior decisions, especially in the field of renewable energy, and the tools available within IIAs for tribunals to promote the Paris Agreement objectives; (iii) discusses what arbitral institutions have done to date, in terms of tools, procedures, rules and other mechanisms, to promote climate change expertise and facilitate the resolution of disputes in a way that is consistent with climate change concerns; and (iv) considers ICSID's position as an arm of the World Bank, particularly in light of the WBG Climate Change Action Plan commitment to scaling up climate action and aligning internal processes with intentionally agreed climate change goals.


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