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Global Climate Change Program: Africa
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| USAID is working with Malian agricultural scientists to understand how projected changes in climate,
including increased temperature and greater seasonal rainfall variability, could impact rice
production, an important crop for Mali’s rural economy. USAID is also exploring ways that
farmers can adapt their production to a changing climate. |
Addressing the causes and effects of climate
change has been a key focus of USAID’s
development assistance for over a decade.
USAID has funded environmental programs that
have reduced greenhouse gas emissions while
promoting energy efficiency, forest protection,
biodiversity conservation, and other development
goals. This “multiple benefits" approach to climate
change helps developing and transition countries
achieve economic development without sacrificing
environmental protection. To help countries address
domestic and international climate change priorities,
USAID’s Global Climate Change Program is
active in more than 40 countries and, since 2001,
has dedicated over a billion U.S. dollars to promote:
Many countries in Africa face severe socio-economic
challenges that are exacerbated by short- and long-term
climate stresses Small disruptions can alter
progress toward essential development goals such as
reducing hunger, increasing incomes, decreasing
poverty, improving governance, and ensuring the health
and longevity of the population Because overall greenhouse
gas emissions are low but vulnerability to
climate-related impacts is high, adapting to climate
stresses is the principal challenge facing the African
continent with respect to climate change. In the Africa
region, USAID’s Global Climate Change Program is
active in countries such as the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Senegal, South Africa,
and Uganda. It is also supported by three
regional USAID programs: USAID/East Africa,
USAID/West Africa, and the Africa Regional Program.
Adaptation to Climate Change
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| Congolese foresters review management plans for reduced impact logging practices in
the northern Republic of Congo,where USAID is studying the impacts on carbon stocks. |
USAID supports activities to help developing countries
lessen their vulnerability and adapt to climate variability
and change. These activities are intended to build more
resilience into economic sectors that may be affected
by climatic stresses, including agriculture, water, and key
livelihood sectors in coastal areas. In the city of
Polokwane, South Africa, the Department of Water
Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) is building infrastructure
to meet the demand for water of a rapidly growing
population. Climate change could affect both supplies
and demand for. USAID worked with DWAF to
identify water demand management and infrastructure
needs in light of changing climatic conditions. Water
infrastructure has a useful life of decades, so planning
with future climate in mind can lead to better
investments. In Southern Mali, farmers believe that
hotter and drier conditions in recent decades have
contributed to declining productivity of maize, rice, and
potato. USAID is working with farmers to improve
crop yields and reduce vulnerability of crop production
to climate variability and long-term climate change.
Sustainable Land Use and Forestry
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| A local official in the Durban area of South Africa found low cost
solar water heating simple enough that he installed it on his own. |
Promoting biodiversity conservation, improved forest
management, and sustainable agriculture, USAID programs
help mitigate climate change by absorbing and
storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They
also help reduce the vulnerability of ecosystems
to climate change. Reduced-impact logging of
forests minimizes loss of vegetative cover, for
instance, which helps stabilize the soil and control
erosion during rain and wind storms. Reduced
tillage and contour planting by farmers increase
soil organic carbon and therefore enhance soil
fertility, which helps increase food security in
developing countries.
In Africa, the Central African Regional Program for
the Environment (CARPE) focuses its efforts
across the Congo Basin, which contains the world’s
second largest expanse of closed-canopy tropical
forest. The region is threatened by unsustainable
timber exploitation, shifting cultivation, commercial
hunting, urban expansion, and decades of human
conflict. In addition to providing other valuable
ecosystem services, the large forested area of the
Congo Basin serves as a globally important carbon
Stock. CARPE’s principal goal is to reduce the rate
of forest degradation and biodiversity loss through
increased local, national, and regional natural
resource management capacity. Key activities
include the establishment of nature reserves, integrated
landscape natural resource management planning,
forest policy reform, improved forest concession
management, sustainable forest use by local communities,
and improved environmental governance.
USAID’s efforts in this region have helped establish
the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, which has
resulted in a treaty among seven Central African
countries to implement transboundary conservation
and natural resource management activities spanning
an area of nearly 200 million hectares.
Climate Science for Decision-Making
USAID is also involved in U.S. and international
climate change research to ensure that science
produces information needed for global development
challenges and that scientific findings guide development
planning. Informed policy decisions are essential
to sustainable natural resource management and
economic development, key priorities of USAID.
For example, USAID supports long-term research
partnerships between U.S. universities, developing
country research institutions, U.S. agribusiness, and
private voluntary organizations through Collaborative
Research Support Programs (CRSPs). CRSPs
research issues of agricultural productivity and
sustainability, food quality, and natural resource
management that benefit both developing countries
and the U.S.
Clean Energy Technology
Finally, new technologies and practices offer the
prospect for continued economic growth with
reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Recognizing that
increased productivity and efficiency are critical to
economic growth, USAID supports the commercialization,
dissemination, and widespread adoption of
environmentally sound technologies. Attracting private
investment is essential to popularizing such technologies.
For example, USAID promotes low-cost solar
lighting and water purification systems for rural
hospitals, schools, and orphanages in East Africa
through a partnership with Solar Light for Africa, a
faith-based non-governmental. To date,
over 200 solar lighting and water purification systems
have been installed in rural health clinics, schools,
orphanages, community centers, and other public
facilities in Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania, including the
solar electrification of the Kakuuto Hospital located in
the Rakai District of Uganda where the AIDS epidemic
was first identified.
Download the
Global Climate Change Program: Africa Brochure, October 2006 (PDF 371K)
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