An overview of climate change adaptation and mitigation research in Africa

Abstract

Research on climate change has increased significantly since the 1970s. There has also been a particular focus on Africa, given its vulnerability to climate change impacts and its urbanization trends that may have massive implications for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Despite the wealth of publications on climate change in Africa, there is a lack of review studies that highlight the overall research landscape. If this status of climate research is clarified, African countries can better deal with climate change. Hence, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the status and trends of research on climate change adaptation and mitigation in Africa. Our review, straddling from 1990 to late 2021, recognizes the foundations that underpin climate change adaptation and mitigation literature. Based on keywords associated with Africa's climate change adaptation and mitigation, we undertook bibliometric research by collecting 3,316 related SCI/SSCI articles. In addition, we provided a thematic evolution over three decades, compartmentalized into four sub-periods (1990–2007; 2008–2014; 2015–2019; 2020–2021). Priority research topics and themes have been dynamic over time, with some core concepts receiving more attention (vulnerability, food, water, and energy security). Although the number of published articles exhibited a rapidly growing trend, their distribution is extremely uneven. Articles were mainly published by institutions from certain parts of the continent, with the University of Cape Town, making the highest contribution. About 72% of the existing studies focused on climate change adaptation, while climate change mitigation was less represented with 22%. The results also showed that researchers have examined not all African countries. South Africa, Ethiopia, and Ghana are hot spots, while most countries are largely neglected. Africa and African countries need to improve their future research ability on climate change mitigation. Assessing climate change risks and measures in African countries should be prioritized.

The African Regional Greenhouse Gases Budget (2010–2019)

“…Key fluxes that are targeted are the fuelwood emissions (0.91 PgCO 2 eq yr 1 ), and the above-ground biomass (highly uncertain), as well as climate-smart agricultural practices. There is no evidence yet that this is possible within the socio-ecological context, with evidence emerging that estimates of potential above-ground biomass stocks are unrealistic, and some will have negative biodiversity and social outcomes (Armani, 2022;Bond et al, 2019). This RECCAP2 GHG budget sets a baseline against which to assess the effectiveness of policies and highlights the key fluxes that need better quantification to support financing these interventions and assessing their consequences.…”

“…With a current population of about 1.4 billion, set to increase to over 2 billion by 2040 (United Nations Urban Settlement Programme, 2019), it is expected that large areas of land will be converted for agricultural production to feed this increasingly urbanized community and to increase country-level GDP. Concurrently, there is massive interest in using African landscapes to store carbon and offset global carbon emissions (Armani, 2022). It is therefore imperative to develop reliable data on key carbon-cycle processes and GHG emissions to quantify the net effect of these competing trends.…”

Technologies or institutions? The robustness and durability of institutional adaptations to climate change in African agriculture

“…Our characterization of climate change adaptations as either institutional or technological allows us to point to institutional adaptations as more robust and durable. There is limited literature on farmer adaptation, especially in the developing world (Baninla et al 2022), and there is currently no clear evidence on the types of adaptations that will work best. In this paper, we classify adaptations into institutional and technological, and also provide evidence that suggests which types might be most effective with a changing climate.…”