Spatiotemporal changes of climatic disasters and population displacements in Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT Frequent global climatic disasters are posing a growing threat, especially in populous Africa. Understanding the intrinsic interactions between climatic disaster and the resulting affected population in Africa can provide a representative sample of developing countries for global governance of climate change. This study explored the spatiotemporal dynamics in climatic disasters and disaster-related displacements in Africa from a geographical perspective. The results showed that climatic disasters in Africa occurred with seasonality consistent with African climate characterized by distinct dry and rainy seasons, manifested as flood, storm, and heat wave events occurring in the rainy season, wildfire and cold wave events taking place in the dry season, and prolonged droughts spanning both dry and rainy seasons. Meanwhile, the spatial pattern and variation trend of climatic disasters and displacements varied greatly by the five African sub-regions. East Africa experienced the highest number of disasters and displacements, while Southern Africa bore the least. Flood and drought triggered a third of total displacements in the most populated West Africa. The least frequent disasters dominated by flood only affected less than 10.9% of the total in Central Africa. 6.8% of the total displacements were primarily induced by coastal flood in North Africa.