Climate change adaptation in the African roads sector: Constraints, opportunities and policy challenges

Abstract

Roads play a vital role in strengthening the socio-economic development of regions in sub-Saharan Africa by providing local communities with critical connections between essential market points, service towns and infrastructure. To enhance the capacity of roads authorities to reduce the current and future impacts of climate change on rural roads, a project was initiated by the Africa Community Access Partnership (AfCAP), a research programme funded by UK Aid, to focus on climate adaptation in this sector. A methodology for carrying out climate adaptation assessments for rural roads was developed and packaged into a handbook and series of linked guideline documents. The project further looked at addressing capacity enhancement in the AfCAP partner countries to ensure a strong focus on embedment and uptake. The study focused predominantly on three AfCAP countries, namely Mozambique, Ethiopia and Ghana. In order to embed climate change adaptation into the respective national transport authorities, several constraints had to be addressed.