Climate Change: Policy Support for National Adaptation Plans in Sub-Saharan Africa

The global climate has experienced tremendous change notably since the industrial revolution. Beginning from 1880 through to 2012, the average global temperature increased by 0.85°C. This subtle increase primarily from anthropogenic contribution has devastating effects on crop (grains) yields. Specifically, between 1981 and 2002, major crops like wheat and maize, among others,) suffered substantial yield declines of about forty megatons annually, due to a hotter atmosphere. With the oceans equally warming faster and snow and ice sheets on a dramatic decrease, the world average sea level climbed by 19 cm from 1901 to 2010. While climate change is a global phenomenon with varying degrees of consequential implications for different world regions, Africa South of the Sahara with a negligible contribution to global warming has seen a number of the worst impacts of climate change in recent years. Temperatures in Africa have risen by at least 0.5°C in the last 50 to 100 years. Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change, according to the 5th IPCC Assessment Report (Lisa, Elemental Water Foundation. https://elementalwaterfoundation.com/2020/11/09/how-climate-change-impacts-water-scarcity-in-africa/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI49616uDV8AIVhJ3VCh0ZZQEsEAAYASAAEgIrzPD_BwE , 2020). As a result of global warming, about 2.1 billion people in the world lack access to safely managed drinking water services, over 11 million of these people live in Madagascar (World Health Organisation (WHO), https://www.who.int/news/item/12-07-2017-2-1-billion-people-lack-safe-drinking-water-at-home-more-than-twice-as-many-lack-safe-sanitation , (2017).According to the Liberty Supports WaterAid, Madagascar project nearly 11 million people have no access to clean water. https://www.libertyspecialtymarkets.com/gb-en/article/liberty-supports-wateraid-s-madagascar-project-where-nearly-11-million-people-have-no-access-to-clean-water , 2015). The precarious state of the global climate calls for serious and well-coordinated action from state and multilateral actors with the capacity to help the world poorest, specifically in Africa to either mitigate or develop credible adaptation measures. Thus, this chapter examines the UNDP's Climate Change Adaptation policies for “Supporting Developing Countries to Advance National Adaptation Plans (NAPs)”, using sub-Saharan Africa as a case study.