“Climate Proof” Infrastructure

African countries and development partners are at an early stage of trying to understand and plan for what might be the main impacts of more climatic variability. Most infrastructure in Africa continues to be built based on assumptions that the future climate will be similar to that of the past.  Doing things differently will add an additional layer of complexity to Africa’s development challenges and an additional layer of cost.

Climate change is already threatening vital infrastructure such as road and rail networks, water and energy systems.  In the water sector, lower annual rainfall in some parts of the continent has reduced the power supply capacity of hydroelectric dams and could in future reduce the water supply necessary for the cooling of coal-fired power stations.  Coastal and inland flooding, related to excess rainfall, is also a risk for road, rail and air networks.  This is particularly so for the several small island states in the continent.

Infrastructure represents such a major investment that it is important to build it to cope with future changes.  The cost implication for African governments and their development partners will be significant.  Recognition of the risks associated with climate change is a valuable first step towards better planning of new infrastructure investments and mitigating potential damage to existing infrastructure.