Climate Change and Africa: Key Risks to People and Ecosystems and Opportunities for Climate Resilient Development
What impacts on African people and ecosystems can be attributed to human-made climate change? How much will risks increase in the future? What opportunities exist for climate-resilient development to reduce risks and achieve other sustainable development goals? This talk will address these questions using the most comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation in Africa ever contained in an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, and connect these findings to important remaining knowledge gaps on Africa. It will also highlight how what happens in Africa could influence the rest of the world.
Dr. Christopher Trisos directs the Climate Risk Lab of the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research integrates approaches from environmental and social sciences to forecast climate change risks to people and ecosystems, and help inform more rapid, just and equitable responses to the climate crisis. His recent research projects include climate change risks to health, biodiversity, and cultural heritage; tracking climate finance; quantifying climate change literacy rates in Africa; and assessing risks from solar geoengineering.
Dr. Trisos was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report, responsible for the Working Group II chapter on African Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (released in 2022). He is also a Core Writing Team Member for the IPCC Synthesis Report, due in March 2023.
From 2019–2022 he was a Future Leader African Independent Research Fellow funded by the African Academy of Sciences and the UK Royal Society. He has advised on climate change for the World Bank, UN Environment Programme, and for multiple African governments.
