Climate change adaptation and inequality in Africa: Case of water, energy and food insecurity

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the relationship between social inequality and climate change policy actions in African countries. We examine whether the needs of the poor influence mitigation and adaptation policies in the region. The continent is characterized by an interesting dynamic between inequality and climate change: it is predicted to disproportionately bear the effects of climate change, at the same time that it accounts for four out of the top five countries with the starkest inequality globally. In our analysis, we construct a statistical measure of social inequality for a group of 54 African countries and use the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to obtain corresponding data on mitigation and adaptation policy actions. We then estimate the intensity of the responsiveness of the latter to the former. Using fractional regression and data imputation methods, we find a statistically significant negative relationship between social inequality and climate change policy actions in Africa. Across African countries, mitigation and adaptation actions fall by about 23% for every 1% rise in social inequality. African countries are therefore not responding to climate change threats in ways that simultaneously reduce social inequality and adapt to climate change. Furthermore, there is some evidence that countries emitting more pollutants are less likely to take action to address climate change. Our results imply that in order to address differences in the burden of climate change in Africa, a re-evaluation of current policy actions is warranted.