Forty percent of Africa's population lives in arid, semi-arid, and dry subhumid areas. Climate change may lead to an increase in arid zones that are susceptible to drought. This graphic shows the locations of humid, moist subhumid, dry subhumid, semi-arid, arid and hyper-arid areas in Africa.

Natural disasters are increasing in number and frequency, and affect most countries in Africa. This graphic shows the amounts of people, in millions, who were affected by drought, by famine, by flood and by epidemics related to [natural] disasters in Africa for the period 1971 to 2001.

Turkmenistan and Iran have become drier. Dust storms pick up large amounts of salt and dust as they pass over the Kara-Kum desert and the Caspian Seashore, depositing it in the Volga River valley where it impairs the fertility of arable land.

As the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, the temperature in the European part of the Caspian Sea region will continue to rise, at least at first. Some researchers have recently expressed fears that the warm Gulf Stream current in the Atlantic Ocean may slow down due to the changes in the Artic environment and oceanic circulation.

Precipitation has very likely increased during the 20th century by 5 to 10% over most mid- and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere continents, but in contrast, rainfall has likely decreased by 3% on average over much of the subtropical land areas. There has likely been a 2 to 4% increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events in the mid- and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere over the latter half of the 20th century. There we...

Poor people all over Africa are vulnerable to droughts and floods since many depend on rainfed agriculture as their main means of subsistence and often live in degraded areas susceptible to rainfall variation (cleared of trees and vegetation).

In Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, people are far more concerned about the availability of food than its quality. In some areas, particularly in August and September when one crop runs out and the next is not ready to harvest, people eat very little – some days nothing at all.

Over the last 30 years increasing numbers of people have been affected by severe flooding, drought and variable climate in the Sahel. Millions of Africans have sought refuge from these disasters. These peoples have often had to settle on marginal areas; where some have faced social tensions with new neighbouring communities.

Current patterns of human use of water are unsustainable. From 5% to possibly 25% of global freshwater use exceeds longterm accessible supplies and is met through engineered water transfers or the overdraft of groundwater supplies (low to medium certainty).

The imbalance in long-term water budgets necessitates diversion of surface water or the tapping of groundwater resources. The areas shown with moderate-to-high levels of unsustainable use occur over each continent and are known to be areas of aquifer mining or major water transfer schemes.

Global climate change may impact food production across a range of pathways (Figure 17): 1) By changing overall growing conditions (general rainfall distribution, temperature regime and carbon); 2) By inducing more extreme weather such as floods, drought and storms; and 3) By increasing extent, type and frequency of infestations, including that of invasive alien species (dealt with in a separate section).

Water scarcity in terms of drought or depleted groundwater could therefore have great impacts on livestock and rangelands. These interactions are also complex. While drought can directly threaten livestock, other factors that influence water availability for livestock are seasonal droughts and socio-economic changes, such as permanent settlement and occupation of seasonal pastures by people other than pastoralists, availability and quality...

Sustainability in the Latin American and Caribbean countries may be affected by climate change impacts. Costs associated with climate change can intensify budget constraints as countries attempt to reduce poverty and work towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. Food security will be affected because of a decline in the productivity of staple grains, natural disasters and drought may reduce the time available for children’s education. It...

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a natural phenomenon that has occurred for centuries. Ocean and atmospheric conditions in the Pacific tend to fluctuate between El Niño (warming) and a drop in temperature in the tropical Pacific known as La Niña. The fluctuations are rather irregular, but tend to appear every three to six years. A more intensive phase of each event may last for about a year. A warming climate may contribute to an increase i...

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Drylands, the arid regions of the World between temperate regions and deserts, are subjects to long seasons with very little precipitation and drought spells sometimes lasting over several years. The most densely populated dryland regions are in developing countries, and the economies in this zone are vulnerable to issues like drought.

Disasters and natural hazards represents one strong aspect of vulnerability for the exposed and poor of the World. With climate change, the frequency of certain natural hazards are expected to increase. This map presents an output from an analysis investigating hazard exposure and historical vulnerability for selected natural hazards, together with population distribution and economy. Specifically, this map provides information on what natural ha...

A majority of the population in sub-Saharan African lives in rural areas, where income and employment depend almost entirely on rain-fed agriculture. This population is today at high risk. Sub-Saharan Africa already has a highly variable and unpredictable climate and is acutely vulnerable to floods and droughts. A third of the people in the region live in drought-prone areas, and floods are a recurrent threat in several countries. With climate ch...