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, rele...

Africa is rich in oil and mineral resources, but has severe shortages of water and suffers from an accelerating pressure on its arable land and forests. Climate change is expected to cause major problems for African populations with increase of water stress and severely compromised agricultural production. Local food supplies will be negatively affected and, toward...