FACTSHEET NORTH AFRICA

North Africa is experiencing warming at twice the global rate, leading to increased heat waves, marine heat waves, and widespread losses in agriculture and health. Future projections indicate severe risks to food security, biodiversity, and coastal infrastructure, particularly in Egypt. Adaptation requires transformative, ecosystem-based approaches and a significant increase in disbursed climate finance.

• North Africa has warmed faster than the global average, with surface temperatures increasing at twice the global rate over most regions. Since the 1970s, temperatures have risen by 0.2°C to 0.4°C per decade, particularly during summer.
• Climate change has significantly altered precipitation and temperature extremes. Marine heat waves doubled between 1982 and 2016, and while western North Africa has seen more heavy rainfall and flooding since 2000, eastern North Africa has experienced a decrease in rain days over 10mm and an increase in consecutive dry days.
• Agricultural productivity in Africa has slowed by 34% since the 1960s due to climate change. In North Africa, this manifests as reduced crop productivity, decreased dairy production in Tunisia due to heat and humidity, and a projected decline in olive yields by 1.5°C of global warming.
• Coastal urban areas in Egypt face extreme risks from sea level rise and storm surges. Alexandria is ranked highest for expected damages, with estimates ranging from US$ 36 billion to US$ 79.4 billion under medium- to highest-warming scenarios.
• Human health is severely impacted by rising temperatures, with recorded death rates above normal on high-temperature days in Tunisia, primarily due to cardiovascular disease. Future warming above 2.5°C is projected to cause 50–180 additional deaths per 100,000 people annually in North, West, and East Africa.
• North African cultural heritage is highly vulnerable to sea level rise and erosion. Seven of the ten cultural sites in Africa facing sea level rise by 2100 are in North Africa, including sites in Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia.
• Climate finance for North Africa is insufficient and poorly disbursed; only 15% of adaptation finance commitments for the region were disbursed between 2014 and 2018.

APA

Trisos, C., Totin, E., Adelekan, I., Lennard, C., Simpson, N., & New, M. (2022). FACTSHEET NORTH AFRICA. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet_North%20Africa_Web.pdf

Chicago

Trisos, Christopher, Edmond Totin, Ibidun Adelekan, Chris Lennard, Nicholas Simpson, and Mark New. FACTSHEET NORTH AFRICA. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2022. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet_North%20Africa_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=FACTSHEET NORTH AFRICA |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=2022 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet_North%20Africa_Web.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{trisos2022factsheet, author = {Trisos, Christopher and Totin, Edmond and Adelekan, Ibidun and Lennard, Chris and Simpson, Nicholas and New, Mark}, title = {{FACTSHEET NORTH AFRICA}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2022}, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/2022-09/IPCC%20Regional%20Factsheet_North%20Africa_Web.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }