The role of Sustainable Land Management (SLM) for climate change adaptation and mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

Coping with climate variability is a major challenge for the people of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The high dependence of the economies and rural people of SSAupon rainfed agriculture, the prevalence of poverty and food insecurity, and limited development of institutional and infrastructural capacities in this region make coping with natural climate variability a perennial challenge. In the past several decades, the number of extreme weather events in particular sub-regions and the number of people affected by droughts and floods have grown dramatically. This challenge is being magnified by global climate change in most of SSA. Many climate models predict negative impacts of climate change on agricultural production and food security in large parts of SSA. Higher temperatures throughout all of SSA will cause shorter growing periods, drying of the soil, increased pest and disease pressure, and shifts in suitable areas for growing crops and livestock. Mean rainfall is predicted by most models to decline in many areas of SSA, especially in southern Africa, while rainfall is more likely to increase in parts of eastern and central Africa and predictions are more variable in western Africa. Beyond the impacts on mean trends, climate change is expected to cause more extreme weather events. Even in many areas where rainfall is expected to increase, higher temperatures will reduce growing periods. These changes are predicted to reduce the area of land suitable for rainfed agriculture by 6% (averaged across several projections), and reduce total agricultural GDP in Africa by 2 to 9%. Agricultural losses are expected to be as much as 50% in southern Africa during drought years.

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