Climate Change in Africa (review)

Climate change is a challenge at many levels, not the least of which is the need to make the results and significance of the underlying complex scientific research more accessible to the everyday needs and language of diverse cultures across the world, Africa included. While there has been a huge explosion of technical data and information on climate change over the past decade, many consider it an issue of concern to scientists only. Others are skeptical about its causes and doubt whether it affects them directly. The challenge for all involved in climate change science is to relate it to everyday experience.

In Climate Change in Africa Camilla Toulmin has gone a long way toward addressing this clear and present challenge. She manages to distill climate change science findings from multiple reports and to weave a compelling narrative of the impact of this global phenomenon on a continent that faces particular limitations in solving its multiple challenges. The book is a welcome, accessible addition to the growing body of literature on climate change and Africa, a necessary read for both the initiated and uninitiated alike.

Through an introduction and nine chapters, Toulmin not only highlights global climate change in relation to Africa, but also narrows down the discussion to essential African issues—water resources, forests, food security, and conflict. I found the chapter on climate change and conflict (107-26) of particular interest because of my concern over growing speculation by some researchers that climate change will worsen conflicts in Africa. Toulmin's emphatic conclusion, that "there is little solid evidence to support a direct causal link between climate change and conflict" (116), gives reassurance that voices of temperance and fact-based analysis still exist, avoiding simplistic causal links to complex human-nature interactions.

Nevertheless, the book does occasionally fall into the trap of generalization; for example, the subregional groupings presented in Table 2.2 (West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and Sahara) and in Table 6.1 (Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Africa, Middle Africa, Northern Africa, Southern Africa, and Western Africa) are confusingly diverse. This inconsistency leaves unclear how data aggregation and disaggregation were handled in drawing some conclusions. Related to the issue of subregional groups is the implication that Mozambique is in East Africa. Granted that Mozambique is on the east coast of Africa, but most consider it in southern Africa.

Generalizations also include supposed statements of fact: "It is common for plastic bags to become a substitute for public toilets; as they are thrown away, these are known as 'flying' toilets" (90). While such observations may be commonplace in news articles, they contribute to trivializing a serious discussion. Her use of the possessives "we" and "our" (referring, in one instance, to the United Kingdom outsourcing its emissions to China, and elsewhere, to humanity generally) is at times confusing, and a number of sentences yield ambiguous meanings. Some of these problems may be examples of rather sloppy editing, which distracts from the substance of such an informative book.

The biggest challenge in writing a book on such a fast-changing issue is trying to remain relevant long after certain events and processes have been documented, and some of Toulmin's arguments have since been overtaken by events. But beefs and distractions aside, Climate Change in Africa is a must-read for policymakers and the public alike. It is an important contribution to our understanding of the human, environmental, and policy implications for Africa of this global challenge.