“The POLICY FORUM in this edition illuminates one of the most pressing issues of the
day – Climate Change – and specifically its impact on sub-Saharan Africa. Climate
change, sometimes referred to as global warming, in the context of environmental policy, is described as changes in modern climate caused largely by human action. Although its impact is or will be global to varying degrees, the economic costs and benefits of climate change are not likely to be equitably distributed across the regions of the world.Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu in his contribution on Issues in climate change and economic development in Africa, points out that agricultural economies of Africa will suffer the most from climate change as the
subsistence farmers will see immediate adverse effects of droughts and floods with
deleterious effects on yield and food security on the continent. Prof. Anthony Nyong’ in his contribution on Climate Change and Africa, Are We Doing Enough? states that despite the fact that Africa is highly vulnerable to climate change threats, African leaders are not paying enough attention to this issue. Mahendra Shah in his contribution on Climate Change and Agriculture: Risks and
Opportunities makes a similar observation and calls on national governments and the
international community to give agriculture and the rural sector the highest priority in
terms of resource allocation and adoption of locally relevant and globally consistent
development policies aimed at responding to the threats of climate change.”
