East Africa faces growing climate adaptation pressures

Significance

Although all regions are affected, these issues presently appear particularly acute in East Africa, which currently faces some of the worst flooding in its history while still recovering from an unprecedented five-season drought. Another drought is predicted to arrive soon.

Impacts

• East Africa is already one of the world’s leading regions for renewable energy development and will likely continue along this path.
• The need for climate-resilient infrastructure will increase the costs of development that regional nations are already struggling to fund.
• The politics of access to both food and water may become increasingly fraught in countries that are ill-prepared to manage climate change.