Improved climate forecasts alone won't protect Africa's poorest farmers
A study in Nature Sustainability finds that providing climate forecasts to poor livestock farmers in Africa is insufficient to protect them from climate change. Researchers argue that information must be paired with financial risk-smoothing measures like drought insurance and market access to be effective.
Why it matters
This highlights the 'inequity multiplier' effect of climate change, where lack of capital prevents vulnerable populations from acting on early warning systems.
edited by Gaby Clark , reviewed by Robert Egan
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Add as preferred source Pastoralist Naltwasha Leripe with her goat herd in Samburu, Kenya. Credit: Georgina Goodwin. Conservation International As Africa prepares for the arrival of a powerful El Niño weather event, an international team of researchers led by the University of Sydney and Imperial College London has found that access to improved forecasts alone will not protect many of the region's poorest livestock farmers from the impacts of climate change.
Published today in Nature Sustainability , the study shows that weather information must be paired with practical "risk-smoothing" measures, such as supplementary livestock feed, drought insurance, targeted financial support or improved market access, so farmers at risk of losing livestock can act before drought strikes.
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