Natural resources in Sub-saharan Africa

Abstract

This one of five background papers for the White Paper on Africa that the Swedish government will submit to parliament in early 2008. It starts with a discussion of the impacts of climate change on sub-Saharan Africa and the vulnerability of the region to such change as predicted by the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in February 2007. The report notes that by 2020, a projected 75-250 million people in Africa will be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change, with agricultural production severely compromised, local food supplies negatively affected and, towards the end of he 21st century, low lying coastal areas threatened by rising sea levels. Climate change may also impact on security, cause increasingly severe natural disasters and lead to increased out-migration from affected regions. More attention will need to be devoted to culminating impediments to economic growth if vulnerabilities to climate change are to e...