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216 CHAPTER 13 T his book not only illustrates the impact of climate change in Africa, but also how affected communities are adapting and mitigating the scourge. The discussion concurs with the notion that Sub-Saharan Africa is not responsible for the cumulative impacts envisaged in the region . A demonstration of the impacts of climate change shows that climate change is a reality that needs to be tackled. What is critical is the way in which the changing global environment affects the local levels of African communities. One of the case studies illustrated that rain fed agriculture has been significantly affected by rainfall variability at a local level. On the other hand, despite the controversies around the shrinking of Lake Chad, the impact of climate change on the Lake Chad ecosystem is as important as the unsupervised anthropogenic activities carried out along the feeding rivers of the lake. Apart from the raised environmental concerns, human insecurity has been described as one of the major impacts of the challenges of climate change in the region. Pervasive poverty caused by a gradual degrading trend in the environment and water quality has had a significant impact on the livelihoods and health conditions of the population in the riparian area. Similar to several case studies on the impact of climate change in Africa, the Lake Chad Basin case study illustrates that one of the African countries’ major challenges in addressing climate change is attributable to the inability of member states to provide workable solutions to climate change problems. As an example, efforts employed by member states to ameliorate the condition of the Lake Chad Basin Ecosystem (LCBE) came to naught due to a lack of preparedness by member states to champion the cause. Almost all LCBC member states are either experiencing war or recovering from it. It is therefore difficult for such countries to devote considerable resources to cater for the environment. The need to follow policy recommendations and strategic action plans is critical. The book acknowledges Conclusion Shingirirai Savious Mutanga, Nedson Pophiwa and Thokozani Simelane CONCLUSION 217 the need to consider the role of the international community in providing the necessary technical and financial aid, because the severity of inaction would not only affect the riparian population but also the entire ecological and climatic haven of the African continent, with disastrous human and physical repercussions. The continent’s localised models for “self-reliance” in adapting to climate change include, but are not limited to: indigenous knowledge systems, sound land use planning and the introduction of drought tolerant crops in the realm of food security. Central to success of climate change adaptation is the need to uphold innovation. Given the frequent droughts faced by most African countries, the introduction of drought tolerant crops is a common climate change adaptation. The Nigerian case study provided in this book illustrates the importance of a holistic approach in implementing climate change adaptation strategies. This entails: ensuring rigorous awareness campaigns, sensitising communities on climate change, providing adequate (financial and technological) support services, farming inputs complemented with monitoring and evaluation for successful climate change adaptation. The book acknowledges, however, that indigenous knowledge is a critical pillar to Africa’s climate change adaptation. The case study argues that though poorly documented and not well acknowledged by many agricultural and natural resources management experts, rural communities have intimate knowledge of their environment. In many rural communities, traditional knowledge is used to identify indicators of changes in weather and rainfall patterns and to then make local level decisions. Such local knowledge has hardly been documented in many parts of Ethiopia. Lastly, in the wake of climate change related disasters, most countries around the globe have become relentless in adopting innovative spatial planning approaches to boost resilience and the adaptation capacities of their city authorities. The Ethiopian case study provided reveals that city authorities characterized by a much larger financial resource base, an active local constituent and a much higher political are more likely to adopt sound spatial planning measures to deal with climate change related risks. The book contends that embracing a green economy provides African countries with both challenges and opportunities for development. It is important that African countries situate the implementation of green economy policies within the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication , so as to drive sustained, inclusive and equitable processes of job creation and economic development. Therefore the goal of improving the social well-being of people is equally central to green economy initiatives...

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