01732668

Component

http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/179567.aspx

African countries tend to be particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate variability and in the past four decades more than 1,400 recorded weather related disasters (meteorological, hydrological and climatological) have caused havoc on countries’ economies and for rural communities in particular, on their access and sustainable livelihoods. Communities in Africa are projected to be some of the worst affected by climate change, in part due to their high socioeconomic vulnerability, growing rural populations, high dependency on natural resources and low adaptive capacity, but also due to the relatively strong climate change signal consistently being projected for most of the continent (Le Roux et al., 2016). For African countries, the lack of adequate road infrastructure and the long distances to markets and essential services have been a major development hurdle and continue to make rural communities especially susceptible to the impacts of climate variability. The African continent is facing an enormous economic cost to repair and maintain roads damaged from temperature and precipitation changes directly related to projected climate change. There is thus a pressing and urgent need to mobilize resources to address the continent’s current limitations to deal with climate events and to deal with future climate change. A series of more targeted adaptation interventions are required and it is crucial that decision-makers in all sectors across all governmental spheres factor climate change into all their long term strategic decision making processes. Although many of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa have developed policies to deal with climate change, these policies have not always been translated into tangible actions in the relevant sectors and the transport sector specifically (especially rural roads) has not featured strongly on the climate change adaptation agenda. There is thus a critical need for the prioritization of climate adaptation mainstreaming and embedment thereof into policies, systems, thinking and practice. Regional guidance is also needed on the development of climate-resilient road infrastructure to ensure that sustainable and inclusive development materializes in vulnerable rural areas most at risk to the devastating impacts of a changing climate (Head et al., 2018b).

01730920

English

pp 353-356

2019-9

Transportation Research Circular

12th International Conference on Low-Volume Roads

Digital/other

Figures; References

Climate change; Climate change adaptation; Decision making; Low volume roads; Rural areas; Strategic planning; Sustainable development

Africa

Highways; Planning and Forecasting

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Mar 3 2020 8:57AM