Ecol. Econ. 141, 190–201 (2017)

The impacts of anthropogenic climate change are projected to be particularly hard-felt in Africa, motivating the need for effective adaptation strategies. However, the absence of multi-level stakeholder engagement in decision making, alongside societal, political, economic, and technical challenges, has limited the ability to define, and thus implement, successful adaptation action. Ademola Adenle from Colorado State University, USA, and colleagues conduct 337 interviews across five stakeholder groups — multilateral and intergovernmental organisations, national governments, NGOs, research institutes and universities, and farmers — to outline the main issues facing climate change adaptation in Africa.

Across the various stakeholders, four key challenges were found: firstly, that observational and modelling data are inadequate; secondly, that existing adaptation strategies are fragmented, ineffective, and disjointed from policy; thirdly, that current projects are too narrow in scope and overlook fundamental issues; and fourthly, that funding is insufficient. In response to these issues, the authors propose a new framework to improve climate education, climate projections, climate governance, and climate finance: the so-called 4Cs. It is argued that this new roadmap will allow for better coordination, capacity, financing, management, and engagement of multi-level stakeholders, to deliver effective adaptation in Africa.