Climate information use implications for climate risk mitigation in West Africa

Abstract

With projections of a 70 percent increase in demand for staple cereals by 2050 in order to feed the growing human population (FAO, 2010), combined with the current declining per capita food production and a dwindling natural resource base, ‘feeding West Africa’ and increasing the resilience of livelihood systems may be well beyond reach. This has been attributed to multiple factors such as land tenure challenges, declining soil fertility, poor markets, climate hazards and variability, inadequate funding and poor infrastructural development (Ouedraogo et al, 2016; Partey et al, 2016). The current state of food insecurity and poor rural livelihoods are expected to be further exacerbated by climate change and variability which has emerged as one of the major threats to development in West Africa (Zougmoré et al, 2016)