FICHE RÉGIONALE AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST

The document details how West Africa is experiencing warming faster than the global average, leading to increased heatwaves, erratic rainfall, and severe economic losses. It highlights critical vulnerabilities in health, food security, and coastal infrastructure, while emphasizing the urgent need for increased climate finance and data collection to support transformative adaptation.

• West Africa has experienced warming exceeding the global average, with annual and seasonal temperatures increasing by 1 to 3°C since the mid-1970s, particularly in the Sahara and Sahel regions.
• Climate change has significantly altered precipitation patterns in West Africa since the mid-1990s, resulting in fewer but more intense rainfall events and an increase in extreme precipitation and flooding between 1981 and 2010.
• The region faces severe data constraints due to underinvestment in meteorological stations and research; between 1990 and 2019, Africa received only 3.8% of global climatological research funding, with 78% of that amount allocated to institutions in the North.
• Future warming poses extreme health risks; at 2.5°C of warming, the risk of additional heat-related deaths in North, West, and East Africa is estimated at 50 to 180 per 100,000 people annually.
• Agricultural productivity has declined sharply, with climate change reducing agricultural productivity in Africa by nearly 34% since the 1960s, a higher decrease than in any other global region.
• Coastal cities in West Africa are highly vulnerable to sea-level rise; by 2030, 47 million people in West Africa are expected to be exposed, increasing to 111-122 million by 2060.
• Economic impacts are severe, with estimates showing that African countries' GDP per capita was on average 13.6% lower between 1991 and 2010 than it would have been without anthropogenic climate change.
• Climate-induced migration is a significant adaptation strategy and risk; by 2050, West Africa could see over 50 million internal climate migrants under a 2.5°C warming scenario.
• Sea-level rise and coastal erosion threaten numerous heritage sites, including the island of Saint-Louis in Senegal and several natural reserves in Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Gambia.
• Adaptation is hindered by a lack of funding; annual financial flows for adaptation in Africa are billions of dollars below the estimated short-term costs, and much of the climate finance provided between 2014 and 2018 was in the form of debt rather than grants.

APA

Trisos, C., Totin, E., Adelekan, I., Lennard, C., Simpson, N., & New, M. (2022). FICHE RÉGIONALE AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet%202_West%20Africa%E2%80%93FR_web.pdf

Chicago

Trisos, Christopher, Edmond Totin, Ibidun Adelekan, Chris Lennard, Nicholas Simpson, and Mark New. FICHE RÉGIONALE AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2022. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet%202_West%20Africa%E2%80%93FR_web.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Trisos |first1=Christopher |last2=Totin |first2=Edmond |last3=Adelekan |first3=Ibidun |last4=Lennard |first4=Chris |last5=Simpson |first5=Nicholas |last6=New |first6=Mark |title=FICHE RÉGIONALE AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=2022 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet%202_West%20Africa%E2%80%93FR_web.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{trisos2022fiche, author = {Trisos, Christopher and Totin, Edmond and Adelekan, Ibidun and Lennard, Chris and Simpson, Nicholas and New, Mark}, title = {{FICHE RÉGIONALE AFRIQUE DE L’OUEST}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2022}, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-04/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet%202_West%20Africa%E2%80%93FR_web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }