Economy-wide Implications of Climate Change in Burkina Faso

Economic development in Burkina Faso is potentially vulnerable to climate change, given the country's dependence on rain-fed agriculture. We used a computable general equilibrium model to estimate the economic impacts of climate change, assuming that it will lead to an increase in variability and a decline in the average of agricultural yields as well as an increase in the average and in the instability of the world food prices. Climate change is found to reduce national welfare, with urban poor households being the most affected. However, there is a wide variation across scenarios in terms of the magnitude of the impacts, highlighting the need for multi-sectoral approaches that consider climate uncertainty. Our analysis of adaptation options indicates that investment in agricultural research and extension and irrigation development, particularly when combined, are potentially effective means of mitigating the damage caused by climate change in Burkina Faso.