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Africa's population is expected to triple by 2050, owing to rapid urbanisation and overall demographic trends. The combined pressures of urbanisation and climate change impact the ecosystem and the services it provides. As a result, additional dangers such as increased flooding, and environmental disruption have risen. Therefore, devising adaptive solutions to mitigate flood risk impacts while also building community resilience is needed. Evidence suggests that Nature‐based Solutions (NbS) can potentially alleviate floods and mitigate climate change impacts while also delivering other societal benefits. Despite rising NbS popularity following its recognition in the last decade, studies on its recognition in Africa remain limited. For this reason, this paper reviewed NbS studies conducted in East Africa (EA) to evaluate opportunities and barriers surrounding NbS adoption in EA. Academic literature published from January 2012 to May 2022 was reviewed using a comprehensive search of the SCOPUS database. Results show 14 papers have been published during the period, with the majority being post‐2020. In addition, the majority of the articles focused on cities and peri‐urban settlements, while public awareness, clear guidelines on performance monitoring, stakeholder inclusion, and diverse demonstration projects were highlighted as potential success factors for the adoption of NbS in EA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Since the first issue of the International Journal of Biometeorology in 1957, a total of 135 papers have reported on research in or of African countries. The majority of these have been on topics of animal biometeorology (36%), and the greatest proportion (24%) are situated in Nigeria. There has been a considerable increase in papers on African biometeorology since 2011, with those from this past decade accounting for 58% of all African papers in the journal. This occurs concurrent to an increase in the total number of papers published in the journal, driven by a move to the Editorial Manager system. While 66% of the papers on African biometeorology in the journal are authored by at least one person with an affiliation in the African continent, only 15 African countries are represented in the total authorship. As much of the African continent is projected to experience climatic changes exceeding the global mean, as much of the region is involved in animal and plant farming, and as seasonally-fluctuating and climatically affected diseases are common place, this low representation of work in Africa is surprising. This points to the need for greater awareness among African researchers of the discipline of biometeorology, greater involvement of African biometeorologists in International Society of Biometeorology and Commission meetings, and the inclusion of a greater number of African academics in the review process. This would be beneficial to the Society in increasing diversity and encouraging a more cosmopolitan engagement, and to the recognition of scientific development in African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a context marked by the intensification of climate change as well as an increase in the frequency and intensity of violent conflicts in Africa, this paper analyses the effects of vulnerability to climate change on conflict through the channel of migratory movements. Given the complex causal relationships between the variables, and to distinguish between their direct and indirect effects on conflicts, we employ structural equation modeling on a sample of 37 African countries observed between 1995 and 2017. The results show that vulnerability to climate change has both direct and indirect negative effects on internal conflict in Africa. An increase in vulnerability to climate change reduces the net stock of international migrants; while the net stock of migrants increases internal conflict. These effects are robust regardless of the components of the climate change vulnerability index considered and vary, however, according to the official language spoken and the level of development. In English-speaking and low-developing countries, the effects of climate change vulnerability on conflict remain negative, while in French- and Arabic-speaking as well as in more developed African countries, climate change vulnerability indirectly increases conflict through migration.In a given territory, the implementation of specific adaptation measures helps to reduce the level of vulnerability to climate change. Furthermore, the increase in conflicts caused by a reduction in vulnerability to climate change can be mitigated by a decrease in migratory movements through a better allocation of natural resources such as arable land and an increase in gross domestic product per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the environment and the possibility of a better living are benefited by sustainable development. However, if it is used improperly, it may harm people, the environment, and sustainable development. This is seen in how the earth has degraded as a result of poor management. Due to soil erosion, deforestation, and climate change that are being caused in the name of sustainable development, the ecosystem is being drained. This outcome is linked to the explorers' self-centeredness, which was motivated by their interests and wealth. Many mining dumps that have not been sealed after being inspected for diamonds, gold, and other minerals and natural resources like rice, potatoes, corn, and so forth are examples of this, and they are used to overplough the land in the name of sustainability development and living the earth barren. The illegal miners who are aggravating environmental harm and accelerating earth deterioration for future generations are using the mining dumps further in the name of sustainable development by reducing poverty and unemployment in South Africa. The environment will deteriorate and become uninhabitable if this is not monitored. Using the search engines like Desktop, articles and proceedings, the paper will begin by highlighting sustainability development and its admirable goals of bringing about a better quality of life for the populace. However, this did not last for very long because diligent explorers invaded the planet, harming the ecosystem. The paper will then focus on the effects of environmental degradation after effects on sustainable development. The study will attempt to establish how an African environmental stewardship philosophy might help with the preservation of the ecosystem as it closes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has been unequivocally linked to human impact. Human actions have affected the environment and its inhabitants in a variety of ways around the globe and the response of various species can provide insight to what the future holds if we do not begin to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Monkeys are especially important as they function as ecosystem engineers, having a significant impact on plants and other animals in their habitats. Despite their importance, primates in South America and Africa remain understudied, yet are especially at risk as these regions have already undergone significant habitat loss. These regions are also Biodiversity Hotspots with the highest numbers of primate species on Earth. This systematic literature review assesses the current state of knowledge on how monkeys have changed their behavior in response to anthropogenic climate change. For this review, we scanned 3,461 titles, and 100 papers were read in full; seven of 100 papers provided relevant data. These studies primarily reported fertility changes and food substitutions when species were exposed to harsh conditions. The paucity of results from this review demonstrates that more research is needed on this topic. The effects of climate change on primates and their habitats must also be studied in conjunction with other anthropogenic stressors. As humans encroach on wildlife habitats, policies must be implemented to protect the habitats that are still viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the analysis of the temperatures in a group of 36 African countries. By looking at the maximum, minimum and the range (the difference between the maximum and the minimum) and using a long memory model based on fractional integration and cointegration, we first show that all series display a long memory pattern, with a significant positive time trend in 29 countries for the maximum temperatures and in 33 for the minimum ones. Looking at the range, the estimated value for the order of integration is smaller than the one based on maximum or minimum temperatures in 17 countries. Performing fractional cointegration tests between the maximum and minimum temperatures, our results indicate that the two series cointegrate in the classical sense (i.e., with a short memory equilibrium relationship) in a group of 11 countries, and there is another group of eight countries displaying cointegration in the fractional sense. The remaining 17 countries with no evidence of cointegration are therefore at a very high risk of climate change due to the absence of long-term co-movement in their maximum and minimum temperatures. Findings in this paper are of tremendous interpretations and relevance for the analysis and climate projections in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy and institutions have emerged among other variables touted to address climate change problems. However, empirical results have been conflicting. With a relatively poorer state of institutional quality and a lower level of renewable energy development amidst rising carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions in Africa, the study assesses: a) the direct effect of renewable energy and institutional quality on CO 2 emissions in Africa; and b) the moderation role of institutional quality on the effect of renewable energy on CO 2 emissions in Africa. The study relies on panel data covering 2002-2021 for 32 African countries. The Fully-Modified OLS regression method is employed to analyze the data based on the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis and Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, & Technology (STIRPAT) model. The results show that urbanization and trade openness increase CO 2 emissions. Although income has a positive effect on carbon emissions, the square term has a negative confirming the EKC hypothesis. Renewable energy also reduces CO 2 emissions. Institutional quality variables of control of corruption, rule of law, regulatory quality, political stability and absence of violence, voice and accountability, government effectiveness and institutional index created from the above indicators reduce CO 2 emissions. In addition, except government effectiveness, the remaining indicators of institutional quality negatively moderate the effect of renewable energy on CO 2 emissions. The results among other things imply that intensifying the development and usage of renewable energy would help address the rising carbon dioxide emissions trend in Africa. Also, strengthening institutions promises to reduce CO 2 emissions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Climate change is a global threat that is better understood through global research spanning many regions, countries, and life-supporting ecosystems. This review focused on the bibliometric analysis of the distribution of a global research compendium on phytoplankton, an aquatic community that accounts for half of the carbon fixation in the global carbon cycle. A total of 716 primary research papers published in the immediate past decade (2012–2022) were reviewed. The articles were sampled from Web of Science and described field and laboratory experiments quantifying the impact of global climate change on phytoplankton from different climate zones (tropical, subtropical, temperate, subpolar, and polar) and ecosystems (freshwater, brackish, and marine). Analyses of these studies suggest that the bulk of the global research effort (80%) focused on high-latitude areas, and only a few (17%) were carried out in the tropics, largely led by four countries (Australia, Brazil, India, and Saudi Arabia), while Africa's contribution was minuscule (<1%). In terms of ecosystems, the majority (76%) of the research was in marine waters, irrespective of the climate zone. Analyses of these studies also highlighted widespread disparities in phytoplankton research in tropical aquatic ecosystems, particularly in Africa. Strategic investment in terms of targeted funding, institutional networks, and partnerships between the global north and global south are necessary to increase phytoplankton research across different ecosystems in the tropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the interacting effect of global shipping and trade on climate change in Africa using data on 31 countries for the period 2006–2016. We employ the system generalized method of moments estimation technique for our analysis. The results reveal that, in both the short run and long run, global shipping and trade contribute significantly to climate change in African countries. Furthermore, we document that the impact of shipping on climate change become larger through the aggregate trade channel. Based on these outcomes, policies designed to reduce emissions from global shipping are important in mitigating the menaces of climate change in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is aimed at reviewing literature on the significance of soybeans production in the face of the changing climates in Africa. Using literature from the secondary sources, the paper reviewed how Africa can alleviate poverty by growing soybeans amongst the many legumes due to its multiplicity effect (including easily accessed market due to its high demand, enhancing soil fertility, easy to manage, high protein levels which rural people need most as it is cheaper compared to meat). Africa's majority population gets their livelihoods from agriculture and this in itself shows how important the sector is, yet the continent is faced with food insecurities, poor livelihoods, and high malnutrition levels in the midst of changing climate that is compounding their productivity levels. Achieving sustainable food security and livelihoods for millions of poor producers and consumers across Africa where people are living on $2 a day or less, remains a serious problem, exacerbated by the challenges of malnutrition, climate change, and poor technologies. Soybeans as a legume can play an important role in ensuring sustainable food security for both the current and future generations across the continent. Soybeans farming is important in Africa, where small‐scale agricultural systems dominate the food production landscape, as it is a source of inexpensive protein and nutrients to rural households as well as natural fertilization for the soil. Also, the symbiotic nitrogen fixation properties of legumes (soybeans) mean that they are suitable for cultivation on a wide variety of soils in changing climates. Despite this, small-scale farmers are still faced with the following factors; lack of credit funds, recycling of seeds as tested seeds are way too expensive, among which hinders their adoption levels of soybean production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change significantly impacts global agricultural productivity. Therefore, a more dynamic farming system is needed to enable farmers to better adapt to climate change while contributing to efforts to produce enough food to feed the growing world population. In the context of climate change, this study analyzed the empirical scientific literature on the link between climate-smart agriculture and farm productivity. To evaluate the relevant articles, the authors used the search term "climate-smart agriculture amidst climate change to enhance agricultural production (CSA-CCAP)" to find studies published between 2009 and March 2022 using innovative bibliometric techniques. One hundred and sixteen published papers in BibTeX format were downloaded for further analysis. The most successful selected CSA approaches in Africa, such as in the Congo Basin forest, including sustainable land management practices, water-efficient maize hybrids, and others, aim to counteract climate change with signs of 200 percent output gains. The findings showed an annual growth rate of about 19%, demonstrating that research on CSA-CCAP expanded over time during the study period. Nonetheless, the research output on CSA-CCAP varied, with 2021 accounting for 30%, followed by 2020 with 16% as of March 2022. The study concluded that boosting agricultural productivity in the face of climate change may be accomplished through CSA to end hunger, eradicate poverty, and improve people's well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence continues to show that climate change remains a threat to the stability of the hydrologic system. As the climate system interacts with the hydrologic cycle, one significant repercussion of global warming includes changes in water availability at both regional and local scales. Climate change adaptation is intrinsically difficult to attain due to the dynamic earth system and lack of a comprehensive understanding of future climate and its associated uncertainties. Mostly in developing countries, climate adaptation is hampered by scarcity of good quality and adequate hydro-meteorological data. This article provides a synopsis of the modelling chain applied to investigate the response of the hydrologic system under changing climate, which includes choosing the appropriate global climate models, downscaling techniques, emission scenarios, and the approach to be used in hydrologic modelling. The conventional criteria for choosing a suitable hydrological model are discussed. The advancement of emission scenarios including the latest Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and their role in climate modelling, impact assessment, and adaptation, are also highlighted. This paper also discusses the uncertainties associated with modelling the hydrological impacts of climate change and the plausible approaches for reducing such uncertainties. Among the outcomes of this review include highlights of studies on the commonly used hydrological models for assessing the impact of climate change particularly in the sub-Saharan Africa region and some specific reviews in southern Africa. Further, the reviews show that as human systems keep on dominating within the earth system in several ways, effective modelling should involve coupling earth and human systems models as these may truly represent the bidirectional feedback experienced in the modern world. The paper concludes that adequate hydro-meteorological data is key to having a robust model and effective climate adaptation measures, hence in poorly gauged basins use of artificial neural networks and satellite datasets have shown to be successful tools, including for model calibration and validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the climatic effects on monsoon intensification, ocean warming and steric sea level under the Representative Concentration Pathway 3 (RCP3) scenario which will peak global mean temperatures to about 1.5°C. The study employs the CLIMBER-3α model to examine the aspects of climate change under the RCP scenario. It reveals that the average monsoon rainfall in Asia and Africa increases with the land-ocean temperature differences.

Floriculture is a growing sector and represents an asset to the economy of most developing countries in Africa. This paper aims to access the existing knowledge gaps and how such gaps might be filled to develop the floriculture industry sustainably in Africa. Scientific information on the floriculture industry was searched on three online databases (ScienceDirect, Google Scholar African Journals Online and PubMed) to gather much reliable data on the last 30 years in Africa. Thus, 23 scientific publications distributed in eight African countries were considered and examined. East African countries are the most interested in the floriculture industry, with Kenya and Ethiopia as the leaders. There are about a hundred ornamental plant in Africa and they are dominated by exotic species that sold (50%) in northern countries. The cut flowers and foliage are mainly used to brighten up party days, insightful human well-being and the perfumery industry, as well as landscape plants, for hedging, game cover, slope stabilization, food, and aromatherapy. The most important challenges to tackle in floricultural production are related to climate change, pests, and pathogens attacks. Irrigated floricultural production, development and culture of resistant and adaptative varieties, and creation of home markets are recommended to ensure sustainable improvement of environmental quality, food security, and socio-economic aggregate for communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is a particularly vulnerable continent to the effects of climate and environmental changes. Several tree planting projects were launched as one of the plausible solutions to climate action. This paper reviews the recent tree planting projects in African cities, initiated between 2009 to 2021, focusing on analyzing the expected benefits to the populations. Indeed, these projects have become a widespread instrument to promise planning solutions for many African countries given the expected improvements to mitigate air pollution, carbon sequestration, and the conditions of cities for the health and wellbeing of their citizens. The consequences of uncontrolled urbanization in Africa also stress the importance of better planning of green spaces. African cities should reconsider urban planning with a clear focus on the role of green infrastructures because of their extensive social benefits and supportive capacity for any significant sustainable development. While these projects seem to be a promising initiative and are expected to deliver beneficial ecosystem services to citizens, there are still some loopholes that this paper highlights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Spring in Europe has been trending earlier for almost half a century. Long-distance migrant birds, such as the Willow Warbler and Pied Flycatcher, which breed in Europe, have arrived earlier too. It is broadly accepted that warming springs in temperate regions explain the earlier arrival of migrants. However, migration started weeks earlier and thousands of kilometres away. There must be additional cues elsewhere triggering migration. Meteorologists have developed measures of atmospheric circulation which are related to climate variability in wide regions. One of them is the Southern Oscillation Index, which reflects El Niño/La Niña that cause droughts and floods in the southern hemisphere. Other atmospheric circulation patterns, measured by the North Atlantic Oscillation Index and Indian Ocean Dipole, help predict total rainfall for a whole season in various parts of Africa and Europe. Good rains are associated with plant growth and with insect abundance. Insects provide food for most of these migrants. Therefore, this paper asks the question: "Is the timing of arrival of long-distance migrants in spring related to the climates they experience in the places where they are over the year prior to arrival in Europe?" This paper says the answer is "Yes". Earlier springs in temperate regions since the 1980s, attributed to climate change, are thought to influence the earlier arrival of long-distance migrant passerines. However, this migration was initiated weeks earlier in Africa, where the Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, North Atlantic Oscillation drive climatic variability, and may additionally influence the migrants. Multiple regressions investigated whether 15 indices of climate in Africa and Europe explained the variability in timing of arrival for seven trans-Saharan migrants. Our response variable was Annual Anomaly (AA), derived from standardized mistnetting from 1982–2021 at Bukowo, Polish Baltic Sea. For each species, the best models explained a considerable part of the annual variation in the timing of spring's arrival by two to seven climate variables. For five species, the models included variables related to temperature or precipitation in the Sahel. Similarly, the models included variables related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (for four species), Indian Ocean Dipole (three), and Southern Oscillation (three). All included the Scandinavian Pattern in the previous summer. Our conclusion is that climate variables operating on long-distance migrants in the areas where they are present in the preceding year drive the phenological variation of spring migration. These results have implications for our understanding of carry-over effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional climate change is affected by global warming, large-scale inter-regional circulation, and land use/cover. As a result of different ecological, economic, and social conditions, climate adaptation actions vary from region to region, including community-based adaptation in small island developing states, enhancing flood resilience in Europe, weather index insurance promotion in Africa, climate change adaptation based on traditional knowledge in the Polar Regions, and global joint decision-making in terms of regional issues of the Ocean. This paper takes the above five typical cases as the research objects, and the multi-case comparative research method is adopted to discuss regional climate change adaptation based on the pressure–state–response framework. It found that: (1) regional climate change adaptation faces significant pressure from cross-regional flows of finance, population, and species under climate change; (2) climate change hotspot maps based on climate change projections show regional climate vulnerability; (3) responses for regional climate change adaptation require active promotion of multi-level governance with horizontal and vertical cooperation. In the future, regional climate change adaptation should focus on inter-regional climate justice and equality, regional climate change adaptation pathways optimization, and how to effectively learn from typical regional climate adaptation cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the macro-financial externalities of environmental degradation in Africa. Specifically, we examine whether and how changes in non-renewable and renewable energy consumption affect financial instability in 35 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. We use an original econometric approach based on panel logit-probit models, as well as the bootstrap inference method for quantile regressions to explore the occurrence of systemic banking crises, as an indicator of extreme financial instability (from 1990 to 2018), and the quantile function of the banking sector stability index (Z-score), as a measure of different levels of banking instability (from 1990 to 2021). Empirical results support the climate fragility hypothesis by indicating that an increase in non-renewable and renewable energy consumption leads to a higher probability of systemic banking crises and a decrease in banking stability, especially in the lower quantiles (extreme instability). These results are mainly explained by the transition and physical risks in SSA related to climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa, the cradle of human evolution, has one of the largest and most diverse rainforests in the world. The African rainforests contain evidence of human occupation as well as fluctuating climate during the Pleistocene; such evidence offers archaeologists and palaeoecologists the opportunity to understand how climatic fluctuations have influenced human behaviour. However, compared to the rainforests environments in Asia and South America, the human ecological history of those in West-Central Africa is poorly understood. This is because of comparatively fewer scientific programmes which synergize palaeoecological and archaeological data and thus could enhance the knowledge and allow for an evaluation of the impact of climatic fluctuations on human behaviour in the rainforests of West-Central Africa during the Pleistocene and Holocene periods. The goals of this paper are twofold, namely: (i) to provide a synthesis of the past climatic variability in the rainforests of West-Central Africa, and (ii) to demonstrate the influence of such variability on human behaviour during the Pleistocene to Holocene periods. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate Africanists to adopt an inclusive scientific anthropological and palaeoecological approach in understanding human–climate interactions in the West-Central African rainforests. This article is part of the theme issue 'Tropical forests in the deep human past'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southern Africa harbors exceptional biodiversity that is increasingly threatened by climate change, land use, and other pressures. However, risks to the regional ecosystems and quality and consistency of adaptation strategies remain understudied, making conservation and restoration efforts challenging. Here, we reviewed scientific articles published during the period 2000–2020, which (1) addressed observed and projected impacts of climate change on different species, populations, and ecosystems in nine southern African countries, and (2) formulated management and policy responses aiming to mitigate these impacts. We identified and evaluated 28 papers meeting these search criteria. We found that the three components of our investigation, that is, ecosystem type, type of impact, and management and policy responses, were covered by research rather fragmentarily. However, the reviewed publications addressed a large variety of species and ecosystems and a variety of processes, from local extinction, range contraction, and increased mortality to modified inter‐specific interactions. The identified human responses included active vegetation and animal management, improved conservation policies, and monitoring. Most of the publications highlighted severe data limitations, lacking coordination of conservation policies, and insufficient consideration of transient environmental conditions in management and policy planning. We conclude that the current level of understanding of climatic threats to species and ecosystems is limited in southern Africa, and new coordinated research and monitoring actions are needed. This review characterized the high diversity of climate change risks to ecosystems and related social responses, potentially helping to attract further research attention and inform regional adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of global climate change, much hope is placed in technological progress's ability to address environmental problems. However, the persistence of technology inequality across countries undermines environmental technology innovation's contribution to environmental issues. In such a context, this paper introduces a new approach that combines Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with the Gini coefficient to gauge technology inequality. Additionally, decomposition analysis is adopted to identify the driving factors affecting technology diffusion. Empirically, the proposed approach is applied to 49 African countries from 2000 to 2017. The results of our study show that, although the unified efficiency of African countries improved slightly during the study period, there is still much room for improvement in terms of economic prosperity and environmental performance. Secondly, there is group heterogeneity between two groups of African countries (low-efficiency group and high-efficiency group) under both managerial and natural disposability. Thirdly, the inequality decomposition revealed that cross-group inequality is the source of group heterogeneity and the main barrier to technology diffusion, followed by within-group inequality. Finally, environmental technology progress exhibits a low contribution to enhancing sustainability in Africa due to technological inequality persistence. In future, it would be quite meaningful to perform sector-level analysis, which could provide more detailed information on sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human responses to climate change have long been at the heart of discussions of past economic, social, and political change in the Nile Valley of northeastern Africa. Following the arrival of Neolithic groups in the 6th millennium BCE, the Northern Dongola Reach of Upper Nubia witnessed a cultural florescence manifested through elaborate funerary traditions. However, despite the wealth of archaeological data available from funerary contexts, including evidence for domesticated animals and plants as grave goods, the paucity of stratified habitation contexts hinders interpretation of local subsistence trajectories. While it is recognised archaeologically that, against the backdrop of increasing environmental deterioration, the importance of agriculture based on Southwest Asian winter cereals increased throughout the Kerma period (2500–1450 BCE), the contribution of domesticated cereals to earlier Neolithic herding economies remains unclear. This paper presents direct dietary data from a total of 55 Middle Neolithic and Kerma period individuals from Kadruka 21 and Kadruka 1. Microbotanical data obtained from human dental calculus and grave sediments are integrated with human and faunal stable isotopes to explore changes in dietary breadth over time. The combined results demonstrate the consumption of wild plant species, including C4 wetland adapted grasses, by Middle Neolithic individuals at Kadruka 1. Despite existing evidence for domesticated barley in associated graves, the results obtained in this study provide no clear evidence for the routine consumption of domesticated cereals by Middle Neolithic individuals. Rather, direct microparticle evidence for the consumption of Triticeae cereals is only associated with a single Kerma period individual and corresponds with an isotopic shift indicating a greater contribution of C3-derived resources to diet. These results provide evidence for Neolithic dietary flexibility in Upper Nubia through the persistence of foraging activities and support existing evidence linking increased agricultural reliance to the development of the Kerma culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethiopia is home to one of the richest and most unique assemblages of fauna and flora on the African continent. Contained within its borders are two major centers of endemism, the mesic Roof of Africa (also known as the Ethiopian Highlands) and the arid Horn of Africa, resulting from the country's varied topography and consequent geographic isolation. These centers of endemism are crucial to global conservation as evidenced by their classification within the Eastern Afromontane and Horn of Africa biodiversity hotspots, respectively. Ethiopia's diverse ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain are increasingly threatened by climate change and the growing impacts of Africa's second largest human and largest livestock populations. In this paper, we focus on several key areas of recent and ongoing research on Ethiopian biodiversity that have broadened our understanding of nature and its conservation in Africa. Topics explored include the behavioral ecology of Ethiopia's large social mammals, the ecology and conservation of its unique coffee forests, and Ethiopian approaches to community conservation, fortress conservation, and nature-based solutions. We also highlight the increasing prominence of Ethiopian scientists in studies of the country's biodiversity in recent decades. We suggest promising avenues for future research in evolutionary biology, ecology, systematics, and conservation in Ethiopia and discuss how recent and ongoing work in Ethiopia is helping us better understand and conserve nature in the human-dominated landscapes of Africa and other tropical regions today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanisation is affecting people in different ways, with some becoming more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Africa's cities are projected to be home to nearly 60% of the continent's population by 2050. In conjunction with climate change, these cities are experiencing critical environmental challenges, including changes in the urban thermal environment. Urban areas generally exhibit significantly higher air and surface temperatures than their surrounding rural areas, resulting in urban heat islands. However, little has been done to synthesise existing knowledge and identify the key research gaps in this area, particularly in Africa. This paper focuses on the combined effects of urbanisation and climate change on the urban thermal environment in Africa, and provides a comprehensive review of results, major advances and the dominant direction of research. Our review of 40 publications from peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to 2021 revealed that South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria were most frequently studied, and satellite imagery-based data and analysis were used predominantly. Results from a few studies have shown the practical implications for urban land-use planning, informal settlement management, human wellbeing and productivity, energy use, air pollution and disease spread. Integrated approaches, strengthening planning institutions, and early warning systems are proposed to address climate change. Low-income groups are emphasised in efforts to help people cope with heat stress. Solutions based on land use and land cover dynamics and blue–green infrastructure are mentioned but are in need of further research. Cities with similar patterns of urbanisation, geographies and climate conditions could benefit from multi-disciplinary research collaboration to address the combined impacts of rapid urbanisation and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa is particularly affected by climate change due to its exposure to climate hazards, high vulnerability, and low adaptive capacity. Yet, Africa is also a continent rich in Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) that has a long history of informing responses to climatic variability and change. This paper explores the extent to which ILK has been used in climate change adaptation in Africa. It deploys a bibliometric analysis to describe the connections between ILK and climatic change adaptation in Africa, complemented by an analysis of ILK literature and case studies. We consider four key dimensions of ILK, 1) type, 2) contexts of application, 3) value for adaptation, and 4) outcomes and effects in responses to climate change in Africa. Examples drawn from 19 countries across Africa highlight ILK systems are closely connected with biocultural relationships associated with observed patterns of climate change and where adaptation can be more effective when informed by ILK. This body of knowledge is critical to the delivery of climate change adaptation in Africa. The paper suggests some measures through which ILK may be more widely leveraged, both for improved adaptation outcomes, as well as enhancing the biocultural heritage value of ILK systems across Africa. The study commends the remarkable value of ILK in Africa for climate change adaptation and its value for supplementing climate services, particularly in areas with limited access to modern climate and weather forecasts as well as the encouragement of Indigenous communities to develop senses of ownership and active contribution to the sustainability of the future interventions. • Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Climate Change Adaptation in Africa. • The study commends the remarkable value of ILK in Africa for climate change adaptation. • its value for supplementing climate services particularly in areas with limited access to modern climate. • the paper concludes outlining measures through which ILK may be more widely leveraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first systematic investigation of the effect of epidemic shocks on civil violence. The identification exploits exogenous within cell × year variation in conditions that are suitable for malaria transmission using a panel database with month-by-month variation at a resolution of 1 ∘ × 1 ∘ latitude/longitude for Africa. Suitable conditions increase civil violence in areas with populations susceptible to epidemic outbreaks. The effect is immediate, related to the acute phase of the epidemic and largest during short harvesting seasons of subsistence crops. Genetic immunities and antimalaria policies attenuate the effect. The results deliver new insights for prevention and attenuation policies and for potential consequences of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spider plant (Cleome gynandra) is predominantly used as a traditional leafy vegetable throughout Africa and is considered a rich natural source of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and proteins. With the increase in malnutrition, diet related non-communicable diseases and poverty across the continent of Africa, the spider plant is a bona fide alternative healthy food crop to alleviate these challenges. Spider plant is an erect annual herb that could grow up to 150 cm tall, strongly branched, with a long taproot and few secondary roots. It is commonly consumed in resource-poor communities especially during times of major food scarcity. It is a drought-tolerant and resilient annual vegetable crop capable of growing well in a wide range of climatic and edaphic conditions. Despite the potential benefits and wide adaptability, progressive attempts towards the development of C. gynandra as a crop have been impeded by issues like low investment in research and development resulting in poor seed quality, relatively low yields and susceptibility to pests and diseases. In this paper, we reviewed the research that has been done regarding its morphology, growing conditions, production and utilisation (i.e., nutrition). The current review highlighted the status of the science in advancing the domestication of C. gynandra as a potential power crop for several African countries. The review concluded that with the advancement of modern biotechnology techniques and genome sequencing, there is a compelling case for investment and development in C. gynandra as a candidate for managing micronutrient deficiencies during the post-pandemic era. Finally, the existing knowledge gaps (e.g., breeding) that necessitate explorations were identified and recommendations that could enhance its development and potential commercialisation were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of climate change in future streamflow is still very uncertain, especially over semi-arid regions. However, part of this uncertainty can be offset by correcting systematic climate models' bias. This paper tries to assess how the choice of a bias correction method may impact future streamflow of the Cheliff-Mactaa-Tafna (CMT) rivers. First, three correction methods (quantile mapping (QM), quantile delta mapping (QDM), and scaled distribution mapping (SDM)) were applied to an ensemble of future precipitation and temperature coming from CORDEX-Africa, which uses two Representative Concentration Pathways: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Then, the Zygos model was used to convert the corrected time series into streamflow. Interestingly, the findings showed an agreement between the three methods that revealed a decline in future streamflow up to [−42 to −62%] in autumn, [+31% to −11%] in winter, [−23% to −39%] in spring, and [−23% to −41%] in summer. The rate of decrease was largest when using QM-corrected model outputs, followed by the raw model, the SDM-corrected model, and finally, the QDM-corrected model outputs. As expected, the RCP presents the largest decline especially by the end of the 21st Century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mara River Basin of Africa has a world-famous ecosystem with vast vegetation, which is home to many wild animals. However, the basin is experiencing vegetation degradation and bad climate change, which has caused conflicts between people and wild animals, especially in dry seasons. This paper studied the vegetation greenness (VG), vegetation greenness trends (VGT), and their responses to climate change in dry seasons in the Mara River Basin, Africa. Firstly, based on Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and Sentinel-2 images, the vegetation distribution map of the Mara River Basin was drawn. Then dry seasons MODIS NDVI data (January to February and June to September) were used to analyze the VGT. Finally, a random forest regression algorithm was used to evaluate the response of VG and VGT to temperature and precipitation derived from ERA5 from 2000 to 2019 at a resolution of 250 m. The results showed that the VGT was fluctuating in dry seasons, and the spatial differentiation was obvious. The greenness increasing trends both upstream and downstream were significantly larger than that of in the midstream. The responses of VG to precipitation were almost twice larger than temperature, and the responses of VGT to temperature were about 1.5 times larger than precipitation. The climate change trend of rising temperature and falling precipitation will lead to the degradation of vegetation and the reduction of crop production. There will be a vegetation degradation crisis in dry seasons in the Mara River Basin in the future. Identifying the spatiotemporal changes of VGT in dry seasons will be helpful to understand the response of VG and VGT to climate change and could also provide technical support to cope with climate-change-related issues for the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The paper reflects on the lessons from two case studies in order to discuss (1) how they address Ostrom's eight principles and (2) implications for social, economic and environmental challenges. The two case studies are of forest communities in Venda in South Africa and Ciptagelar, West Java, discussed in terms of their social, environmental and economic approaches. In both cases, the communities see themselves as related to nature; in the case of Venda, they express this as a totemic relationship and have been inspired to apply an ecological calendar that was taught to them during the time Mphatheleni Makaulule spent learning from Amazonian leaders. In the case of Ciptagelar, the nomadic way of life is based on a sense of being stewards who do not commodify rice, a sacred source of life, which is in turn dependent upon all the co‐existent creatures and ultimately the forest, which is their home. In both communities, the environment and people are priorities managed by observing the natural cycle. In both communities, an ecological calendar guides the planning and harvesting of crops. In Tshidzivhe Venda, a rigorous approach to crops, harvesting from the forest and re‐planting the forest, is observed, and the entire community act as caretakers and are required to ask permission before harvesting from the forest. In Ciptagelar, West Java, the chief reads the signs when it is time to move to another area and follows a careful approach to biodiversity ensuring that paddy is grown only for certain months so that other creatures can thrive in other months. The Balancing Individualism and Collectivism Special Integration Group has focused on learning by doing using an applied mixed methods approach. It is based on a community of practice spanning NGOs, community projects and university departments. It is supported by a small NRF fund, some funding from UNISA and in kind support from participants. We work together because of shared values and mutual respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A key goal of the Paris Agreement (PA) is to reach net-zero Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) emissions by 2050 globally, which requires mitigation efforts from all countries. Africa's rapidly growing population and GDP makes this continent important for GHG emission trends. In this paper, we study the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in Africa over three decades (1990-2018). We compare bottom-up approaches including UNFCCC national inventories, FAO, PRIMAP-hist, process-based ecosystem models for CO2 fluxes in the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector, and global atmospheric inversions. Our database is available from Zenodo at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7347077 (Mostefaoui et al., 2022). For inversions, we applied different methods to separate anthropogenic CH4 emissions. The bottom-up (BU) inventories show that over the decade 2010-2018, less than ten countries represented more than 75% of African fossil CO2 emissions. With a mean of 1373 MtCO2 yr-1, total African fossil CO2 emissions over 2010-2018 represent only 4% of global fossil emissions. Yet, these emissions grew by +34% from 1990-1999 to 2000-2009 and by +31% over 2000-2009 to 2010-2018, more than doubling in 30 years. This growth rate is more than twice faster than the global growth rate of fossil CO2 emissions. The anthropogenic emissions of CH4 grew by 5% from 1990-1999 to 2000-2009 and by 14.8% from 2000-2009 to 2010-2018. The N2O emissions grew by 19.5% from 1990-1999 to 2000-2009; and by 20.8% from 2000-2009 to 2010-2018. When using the mean of estimates from UNFCCC reports (including the land use sector), with corrections from outliers, Africa was a mean source of greenhouse gasses of +2622 $%&' ($() MtCO2e yr-1 from all bottom-up estimates (sub- and superscript indicating min-max range uncertainties), and of +2637%,'% -&,(MtCO2e yr-1 from top-down methods, during their overlap period from 2001 to 2017. Although the mean values are consistent, the range of top-down estimates is larger than the one of bottom up, indicating that sparse atmospheric observations and transport model errors do not allow us to use inversions to reduce the uncertainty of bottom-up estimates. A main source of uncertainty comes from CO2 fluxes in the land-use sector (LULUCF) for which the spread across inversions is larger than 50%, especially in Central Africa. Moreover, estimates from national UNFCCC communications differ widely depending on whether the large sinks in a few countries are corrected to more plausible values using more recent national sources following the methodology of Grassi et al. (2022) The median of CH4 emissions from inversions based on satellite retrievals and in situ surface networks are consistent with each other within 2% at continental scale. The inversion ensemble also provides consistent estimates of anthropogenic CH4 emissions with bottom-up inventories such as PRIMAP-hist. For N2O, inversions systematically show higher emissions than inventories, on average about 4.5 times more than PRIMAP-hist, either because natural N2O sources cannot be separated accurately from anthropogenic ones in inversions, or because bottom-up estimates ignore indirect emissions and under-estimate emission factors. Future improvements can be expected thanks to a denser network for monitoring atmospheric concentrations. This study helps to introduce methods to enhance the scope of use of various published datasets and allows to compute budgets thanks to recombinations those data products. Our results allow to understand uncertainty and trends of emissions and removals in a region of the world where few observations exist and most inventories are based on default IPCC guidelines values. The results can therefore serve as a support tool for the Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement. The referenced datasets related to figures are available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7347077 (Mostefaoui et al., 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change results from increasing national efforts of all countries to achieve higher economic growth. These efforts contribute to extravagant phenomena such as sea-level rise, global warming, and decreasing precipitation. The importance of climate change is measured by its impact on economic activities. Some regions, including the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA), are exposed to more severe climate change. Therefore, the effects of climate change on the economic growth of the MENA region countries are investigated in this study. Thus temperature and precipitation data plus economic growth of 14 MENA countries during 2000–2016 were used here. The Pedroni, Kao, and Westerlund cointegration tests confirmed existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship. This study employed panel data cointegration fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares models. The results indicate existence of a cointegrated long-term relationship between climate change and economic growth. The economic growth elasticity to climate change, gross fixed capital formation, population growth, and inflation are consistent with theoretical and empirical research types. Moreover, comparing the elasticity in both applied approaches shows that climate change variables have significant negative effects with the same results for both models. It implies that over the long term one percent increase in temperature and precipitation is associated with a 0.25 and 0.024 percentage decrease in economic growth (under the FMOLS model), respectively. Moreover, a one percent increase in temperature and precipitation over the long term is associated with a 0.28 and 0.005 percent decrease in economic growth (under the DOLS model), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Externalities, such as air pollution and increased occupational hazards, resulting from global trends in climate change, rapid industrialization, and rapidly increasing populations are raising global concerns about the associated health risks. The Global Environmental and Occupational Health Hub for Eastern Africa was established to address some of these problems at national and regional levels through focused training and applied research that would yield evidence supporting policies and investments to mitigate risks of increasing environmental threats throughout the Eastern African region. Emphasis has been placed on air pollution, a leading risk factor for global mortality, accounting for over 7 million premature deaths or 8.7% of the 2017 global mortality burden. Despite the enormous disease burden that air pollution causes, global investment in air pollution monitoring and research capacity building in low‐middle and middle‐income countries have been inadequate. This study outlines the activities the Hub has undertaken in planning for and carrying out its initial capacity building and building its primary research programs and identifies central lessons that can inform other large global research partnerships. Plain Language Summary: Air pollution and increased occupational hazards resulting from climate change and rapid industrialization are damaging health. The Global Environmental and Occupational Health (GEOHealth) Hub for Eastern Africa was established to address some of these problems at national and regional levels through training and applied research. This paper describes the activities the Hub has undertaken during its first five years and identifies central lessons that can inform other large global research partnerships. Key Points: Environmental and occupational health challenges remain significant throughout Eastern AfricaThe Eastern Africa GEOHealth Hub is well positioned to build its research and dissemination activitiesThe Hub serves as a model for other large, international research collaborations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Future projections of precipitation at regional scales are vital to inform climate change adaptation activities. Therefore, is it important to quantify projected changes and associated uncertainty, and understand model processes responsible. This paper addresses these challenges for southern Africa and the adjacent Indian Ocean focusing on the local wet season. Precipitation projections for the end of the twenty-first century indicate a pronounced dipole pattern in the CMIP5 multimodel mean. The dipole indicates future wetting (drying) to the north (south) of the climatological axis of maximum rainfall, implying a northward shift of the ITCZ and south Indian Ocean convergence zone that is not consistent with a simple "wet get wetter" pattern. This pattern is most pronounced in early austral summer, suggesting a later and shorter wet season over much of southern Africa. Using a decomposition method we determine physical mechanisms underlying this dipole pattern of projected change, and the associated intermodel uncertainty. The projected dipole pattern is largely associated with the dynamical component of change indicative of shifts in the location of convection. Over the Indian Ocean, this apparent northward shift in the ITCZ may reflect the response to changes in the north-south SST gradient over the Indian Ocean, consistent with a "warmest get wetter" mechanism. Over land subtropical drying is relatively robust, particularly in the early wet season. This has contributions from dynamical shifts in the location of convection, which may be related to regional SST structures in the southern Indian Ocean, and the thermodynamic decline in relative humidity. Implications for understanding and potentially constraining uncertainty in projections are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gases (GHG) emanating from agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) sector are among top contributors to anthropogenic climate change in Africa and globally. Minimizing AFOLU sector GHG emissions in Africa is notoriously hard because of difficulties in emission estimation, the disperse nature of AFOLU emissions, and the complex links between AFOLU activities and poverty reduction. Yet, there are very few systematic reviews dealing with decarbonization pathways for the AFOLU sector in Africa. This article explores the options for achieving deep decarbonization of AFOLU sector in Africa, through a systematic review. Using the method of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA Statement), 46 studies of interest were selected from the databases of Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. Four sub-themes were identified from the critical review of the selected studies covering key decarbonization approaches used in AFOLU sector. The literature suggests that while forest management and reforestation reduction of GHG in animal production and climate-smart practices in agriculture hold great promises for AFOLU sector decarbonization in Africa, there appears to be very limited coherent policy in the continent addressing any of these AFOLU sub-sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue, including one on the impact of hunting on African rainforests, another on the history of climate variation in Africa since the Ice Age and a paper on the use of climate models to determine likely patterns of rainfall change and their links to changes in ocean surface temperatures.

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of a significant global challenge the international organizations are faced within the 21st century - climate change. Climate change has detrimental effects on international security and stability. In the past decades, humanity has faced emerging natural occurrences such as the increase in the World Ocean level, higher frequency of monsoon rainfalls, impaired conditions of the ecosystems in the rain forests. The massive population increase in Africa and South Asia also points to the fact that natural resources are not infinite, and their spare use becomes a priority of worldwide importance. Managing climate change is a global problem, the solution of which mandates the unified efforts of the entire international community. And this is where climate diplomacy comes at play. The efforts of climate diplomacy need to be focused on two primary directions. The first priority is limiting global warming under 2°C compared to the pre-industrial levels and taking actions to reduce the harmful emissions of greenhouse gases. The second priority is about taking adequate measures to handle climate change consequences, amongst which the so-called climate migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How farmers perceive climate change is linked to whether they are responding and adapting to it. However, often this perception does not correspond with what actually happens. Based on a search of empirical studies carried out in Africa and Asia, this paper analyzes two factors that can influence farmers' perception regarding climate change: expected utility maximization and availability heuristic. While expected utility maximization refers to an expected change in farmers' well-being, the availability heuristic is a mental shortcut based on the memory of occurrence of events. Generally, empirical studies show that farmers' perceptions are aligning with meteorological records regarding an increase in temperature. However, while there are no significant variations in rainfall trends, farmers perceive a reduction in rainfall in the last few years. The recent increase in drought frequency and severity may cause this divergence, because it affects farmers' well-being, and extreme droughts have a central position in peoples' memory. In this context, our findings suggest that farmers' perceptions are influenced by economic and psychological issues. Policymakers, extension workers and developers of climate projects need to pay attention to farm and farmers' characteristics in order to develop mitigation and/or adaptation practices regarding climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the progress made in producing predictions of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) over Kenya in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) for the October–December (OND) season is discussed. Several studies have identified a statistically significant relationship between rainfall and NDVI in the region. Predictability of seasonal rainfall by global climate models (GCMs) during the OND season over the GHA has also been established as being among the best in the world. Information was extracted from GCM seasonal prediction output using statistical transformations. The extracted information was then used in the prediction of NDVI. NDVI is a key variable for management of various climate-sensitive problems. For example, it has been shown to have the potential to predict environmental conditions associated with Rift Valley Fever (RVF) viral activity and this is referred to throughout the paper as a motivation for the study. RVF affects humans and livestock and is particularly economically important in the GHA. The establishment of predictability for NDVI in this paper is therefore part of a methodology that could ultimately generate information useful for managing RVF in livestock in the GHA. It has been shown that NDVI can be predicted skillfully over the GHA with a 2–3-month lead time. Such information is crucial for tailoring forecast information to support RVF monitoring and prediction over the region, as well as many other potential applications (e.g., livestock forage estimation). More generally, the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), a project of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other specialized technical centers routinely use NDVI images to monitor environmental conditions worldwide. The high predictability for NDVI established in this paper could therefore supplement the routine monitoring of environmental conditions for a wide range of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is one of the major economic sectors in Africa, and it predominantly depends on the climate. However, extreme climate changes do have a negative impact on agricultural production. The damage resulting from extreme climate change can be mitigated if farmers have access to accurate weather forecasts, which can enable them to make the necessary adjustments to their farming practices. To improve weather prediction amidst extreme climate change, we propose a novel prediction model based on a hybrid of complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN), local mean decomposition (LMD), and artificial neural networks (NN). A detailed comparison of the performance metrics for the short- and long-term prediction results with other prediction models reveals that the three-phase hybrid CEEMDAN-LMD-NN model is optimal in terms of the evaluation metrics used. The study's findings demonstrate the efficiency of the three-phase hybrid CEEMDAN-LMD-NN prediction model in decision-system design, particularly for large-scale commercial farmers, small-holder farmers, and the agricultural index insurance industry that require reliable forecasts generated at multi-step horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermophilization is the directional change in species community composition towards greater relative abundances of species associated with warmer environments. This process is well-documented in temperate and Neotropical plant communities, but it is uncertain whether this phenomenon occurs elsewhere in the tropics. Here we extend the search for thermophilization to equatorial Africa, where lower tree diversity compared to other tropical forest regions and different biogeographic history could affect community responses to climate change. Using re-census data from 17 forest plots in three mountain regions of Africa, we find a consistent pattern of thermophilization in tree communities. Mean rates of thermophilization were +0.0086 °C·y−1 in the Kigezi Highlands (Uganda), +0.0032 °C·y−1 in the Virunga Mountains (Rwanda-Uganda-Democratic Republic of the Congo) and +0.0023 °C·y−1 in the Udzungwa Mountains (Tanzania). Distinct from other forests, both recruitment and mortality were important drivers of thermophilzation in the African plots. The forests studied currently act as a carbon sink, but the consequences of further thermophilization are unclear. Thermophilization is a change in species community composition towards greater abundances of species associated with warmer environments. This study provides evidence of thermophilization in understudied Afromontane forests, but with drivers that are distinct from other forest types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: African countries are among the most vulnerable and affected by climate change. Comprehending climate change poses a major hurdle for the African population, politicians, and the African Union alike, presenting a substantial challenge for all involved. It is generally accepted that universities and other higher education institutions must play a leading role as drivers of change. Therefore, it is very important that African universities educate students about both mitigation and adaptation measures, develop the necessary initiatives to foster research in climate change-related topics and promote cooperation and alliances with key stakeholders. Results: This research reports on a study aimed at identifying the extent to which higher education institutions in Africa are engaging in efforts to deal with the challenges posed by climate change. The objectives were accomplished through a mixed method approach, incorporating a review of literature, an international survey, and the inclusion of selected case studies from African universities that have developed successful initiatives. The research has brought to light significant disparities, such as varying perceptions regarding the potential outcomes of climate change and its associated extreme events in African countries. In addition, the study highlighted areas where there is a notable consensus on specific issues. It also offers a comprehensive view of the different strategies that universities are implementing to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation in several areas. Although there is a growing interest in the need to contribute to the joint task of mitigating the effects of climate change and adapting to its consequences, HEIs need to increase their efforts to enhance the work of their professors and researchers. To this end, the involvement of public authorities and other private sector actors is essential. Conclusions: This article outlines some actions that need to be undertaken so that universities may play a more active role in global efforts to handle the problems associated with a changing climate. There is a notable focus from academic actors on addressing climate change challenges in Africa. In addition, there is a proactive emphasis on utilizing science and research to comprehend climate change issues and offer widely applicable tools for adaptation and mitigation to safeguard both people and the environment. Consequently, it is crucial and time-sensitive for African universities to enhance their expertise in the field of climate change, fostering the capacity to conduct innovative research that addresses the various challenges linked to the evolving climate. This study offers several useful lessons for African universities to replicate experiences that have generated results in different countries and contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Investigaciones Geograficas is the property of Universidad de Alicante, Instituto Universitario de Geografia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

While Moringa oleifera Lam. is gaining importance in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, it is unclear whether research is following the quick pace of its development on the continent. Therefore, this article analyzes the landscape of research dealing with moringa in Africa. This systematic review draws upon 299 eligible articles identified through a search carried out on the Web of Science in April 2023. Research on M. oleifera is rather recent in Africa but interest is increasing among scholars. While the research field is multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral, the literature seems to focus on biological and environmental sciences. Moreover, research is performed mainly in South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Ghana. The analysis suggests a significant potential contribution of moringa to food security and nutrition, climate change mitigation/adaptation, farming systems resilience, and livelihoods. Its versatility and diverse applications and uses make moringa particularly interesting for developing countries, such as African ones. However, this review also underscores some factors hindering its development. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen research on moringa to unlock its potential in Africa. Investments in research, innovation, and development can help address the many challenges that Africa faces and contribute to the transition towards sustainable and resilient food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme weather events have led to widespread yield losses and significant global economic damage in recent decades. African agriculture is particularly vulnerable due to its harsh environments and limited adaptation capacity. This systematic review analyzes 96 articles from Web of Science, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, focusing on biophysical studies related to maize in Africa and worldwide. We investigated the observed and projected extreme weather events in Africa, their impacts on maize production, and the approaches used to assess these effects. Our analysis reveals that drought, heatwaves, and floods are major threats to African maize production, impacting yields, suitable cultivation areas, and farmers' livelihoods. While studies have employed various methods, including field experiments, statistical models, and process-based modeling, African research is often limited by data gaps and technological constraints. We identify three main gaps: (i) lack of reliable long-term experimental and empirical data, (ii) limited access to advanced climate change adaptation technologies, and (iii) insufficient knowledge about specific extreme weather patterns and their interactions with management regimes. This review highlights the urgent need for targeted research in Africa to improve understanding of extreme weather impacts and formulate effective adaptation strategies. We advocate for focused research on data collection, technology transfer, and integration of local knowledge with new technologies to bolster maize resilience and food security in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]