Adapting to Climate Change in West Africa
- Resumen
- Impacts of climate change vary from region to region. The 4th Assessment Report of the IPCC mentions that drier areas will be affected by more droughts and that the rainfall regime, in general, will become "rougher". In West Africa, specifically the area below the Sahel, the climate change signal may be more subtle. Anecdotal evidence from farmers suggest that the onset of the rainy season has been shifting forward in time over the past two generations. Recently,detailedatmosphericmodelingovertheregion (JungandKunstmann, 2008) shows that also in the near future, the onset of the rainy season will shift to later in the year, roughly from April towards May. The end of the rainy season as well as the total amount of rainfall will remain more or less fixed. This implies that adaptation strategies should be twofold. The first part of a comprehensive adaptation strategy would be a continuation of the efforts to produce faster growing rainfed crop cultivars, mainly corn and sorghum. The second part would consist of increased water storage during the wet season for use in the dry season. River runoff in West Africa is very sensitive to the rainfall distribution. When the same amount of rain falls within a shorter period, as is suggested by climate projections, runoff will show an important increase. Also the recharge of groundwater will improve under these circumstances. Storage of surface runoff in small reservoirs would be an important part of climate change adaptation. Extensive use of (shallow) groundwater in the dry season could be a second, highly complimentary adaptation strategy. The development of large dams would probably be less successful given the flatness of the landscape and the move towards decentralized development in most West African countries. Shortening of the rainy season will reduce rainfed agriculture, which is the dominant mode of food production in the region. Use of surface and groundwater in the dry season may partially offset this negative effect. Success of any of these adaptation strategies will to a large extent depend on institutional and socio-economic developments within the region.
- Autor
- Van de Giesen, Nick; Andah, Winston; Andreini, Marc; Barry, Boubacar; Jung, Gerlinde; Kunstmann, Harald; Laube, Wolfram; Laux, Patrick; Liebe, Jens
- Palabras Clave
- África, Lluvia, Cambio clímatico, Adaptaciones ecológicas
- Idioma
- Inglés
- Documentos
- Ponencia ( 9 pag, 179 Kb )
- Presentación
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