Africa Climate Summit 2023: Continent experienced warmer year in 2022, warming most rapid in Northern Africa

Africa continued to record a warming trend and the continent experienced a warmer year in 2022 compared to the 30-year baseline period from 1991 to 2020, according to a new report.

In 2022, the mean temperature across the African continent was 0.16 degrees Celsius above the long-term average for the period of 1991-2020, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in a report released September 4, 2023 at the Africa Climate Summit 2023 (ACS2023).

On average, Africa’s surface temperature increased by about 0.3°C every 10 years during between 1991 and 2022, as compared to about 0.2°C per decade or 10 years between 1961 and 1990, according to the findings.

All six African sub-regions — North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean island countries — have experienced an increase in the temperature trend over the past 60 years compared to the period before 1960.

Average temperature in 1901–1930, 1931–1960, 1961–1990, and 1991–2022

But, Northern Africa experienced the most rapid warming trend compared to the other sub-regions. On average, the region’s surface temperature increased by about 0.4°C every 10 years between the period 1991-2022  compared to +0.2°C / decade between 1961 and 1990, noted WMO.

Southern Africa, with temperature increase of about 0.2°C every 10 years during the same period, experienced the slowest warming trend compared to the other sub-regions, the analysis showed.

“Over the past 60 years, Africa has recorded a warming trend that has been more rapid than the global average,” said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general, WMO.

The global average warming trend over the period from 1991 to 2022 was approximately +0.2°C per decade, the WMO observed.

The year 2022 has been ranked within the ninth and the sixteenth warmest year for Africa in the 123-year record, according to different data sets analysed in the WMO report.

Africa, which is responsible for less than 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, suffered disproportionately from the impacts of climate change, according to the report State of Climate in Africa, 2022. 

The report, the fourth in the series of the annual African report, has a special focus on loss and damage due to weather, climate and water-related hazards.

Last year, the report had emphasised on water resources. 

Loss and damage in 2022

The continent experienced various extreme climate events throughout the year, which included heavy rainfall, floods, tropical cyclones, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires and sandstorms, WMO noted.

The average rainfall was generally below normal in most areas in Africa, though extreme rainfall events occurred in some regions, leading to disastrous flooding, the organisation said.

Some of the devastating extreme events in 2022 were flooding in many parts of the Sahel, drought in the Horn of Africa and tropical cyclones in the South Indian Ocean, it added.

The Horn of Africa faced its worst drought in 40 years, where Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia were affected the most. The WMO report stated that “triple-dip” La Niña, along with the negative phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole, contributed to severe dry conditions in the region.

Worsening extremes had devastating consequences on agriculture, food security and human mobility, affecting millions across the continent, the researchers wrote.

This has undone progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063 goals as well.

Over 110 million people were directly affected by around 80 meteorological, hydrological and climate-related hazards reported in 2022. These extreme events claimed around 5,000 human lives.

Weather-, climate- and water-related disasters in Africa in 2022

The economic damages of some disaster occurrences are not presented in the figure due to data unavailability

Of these, 43 per cent of the deaths were flood-related. Drought, which accounted for less than half (44 per cent) of the extreme events, claimed more human lives as compared to floods. As much as 48 per cent of the deaths were associated with drought, the data showed.

Drought has been the leading cause of death and people affected in Africa, the report indicated.

Natural disasters in Africa caused around $8.5 billion in economic damages in 2022. Around 92 per cent of the economic loss has been due to floods in the region, making it the leading cause of economic damages in the continent, according to the scientists.

When the agricultural productivity growth has decreased by 34 per cent since 1961 due to climate change, annual food imports are expected to increase three times, from $35 billion to $110 billion by 2025.

But when the loss and damage costs in Africa due to climate change are projected in the range between $290 billion and $440 billion, the early warning services are woefully inadequate, according to Petteri Taalas.

While the report advocates for strengthening of early warning services in the region, the new Early Warnings for All Action Plan for Africa launched at ACS2023 is a significant outcome for the climate-resilient Africa.

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