Ellen Davies is head of programs at the African Climate Foundation and is based in Kenya. Wole Hammond is the foundation’s fitness and fitness program officer, based in Nigeria.
For generations, African communities have lived on the edge of climate disruption, managing erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and the slow erosion of their livelihoods, dependent on unpredictable seasons.
When the rains failed across Southern Africa in 2024, it was the latest chapter in a long-running crisis. At that time of year, maize crop failures of 40-80% devastated farming communities in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where about 70% of the population relies on rain-fed agriculture. Governments stretched by debt are forced to raid development budgets, trading long-term growth for emergency aid.
Then came the floods. In early 2026, parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa received more than a year’s worth of rain in days. More than 2 million people were affected. In East Africa, drought has displaced around 62,000 people in Somalia this year alone, and nearly one in four Somalis now face food insecurity.
This is what climate change looks like on the ground – not parts per million or diplomatic jargon, but whether the school stays open after the floods cut off the road, whether the clinic can work in extreme heat, whether the country can still invest in its future if every year it brings another disaster bill.
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Ellen Davies is head of programs at the African Climate Foundation and is based in Kenya. Wole Hammond is the foundation’s fitness and fitness program officer, based in Nigeria.
For generations, African communities have lived on the edge of climate disruption, managing erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and the slow erosion of their livelihoods, dependent on unpredictable seasons.
When the rains failed across Southern Africa in 2024, it was the latest chapter in a long-running crisis. At that time of year, maize crop failures of 40-80% devastated farming communities in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, where about 70% of the population relies on rain-fed agriculture. Governments stretched by debt are forced to raid development budgets, trading long-term growth for emergency aid.
Then came the floods. In early 2026, parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa received more than a year’s worth of rain in days. More than 2 million people were affected. In East Africa, drought has displaced around 62,000 people in Somalia this year alone, and nearly one in four Somalis now face food insecurity.
This is what climate change looks like on the ground – not parts per million or diplomatic jargon, but whether the school stays open after the floods cut off the road, whether the clinic can work in extreme heat, whether the country can still invest in its future if every year it brings another disaster bill.
As Nigeria loses and destroys the “mirage”, the fund manager ensures that the money is coming
Africa as a continent contributes very little to global gas production but has a disproportionate share of the output. Nine out of ten countries most vulnerable to climate change are African. As livelihoods collapse and rural economies fail, migration pressures will increase, driven by climate change coupled with poverty, conflict and blocked opportunities.
Permanent financing
Europe is now beginning to experience, in a limited way, what African communities have achieved for decades with a very small financial base, little insurance coverage and few resources for recovery. With El Niño conditions confirmed and an “extremely good” version of the naturally occurring weather pattern likely later this year, the pressure is set to intensify.
In Africa, climate action is a development challenge where adaptation and mitigation must go hand in hand. Building a solar grid and preventing flooding of a working road are not separate projects. Yet for too long, global climate negotiations have prioritized mitigation while leaving adaptation – the task of protecting lives, livelihoods and economies in a changing climate – consistently underfunded.
The result is three overlapping spaces. Visibility gap: much of Africa’s adaptation work remains under-documented and under-recognized in global climate issues. Financial gap: money is not flowing at the rate or speed needed by the people and institutions best placed to use it. And the decision-making gap: many solutions are still designed elsewhere and imported into African contexts, rather than supporting African-led platforms to scale what is already working.
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Financially sound solutions
Solutions exist. Rwanda’s green investment fund has integrated climate finance at the national level through its initiatives. Egypt’s Nexus of Water, Food and Energy program has shown how integrated planning can stretch limited resources across interdependent systems.
Zambia’s Presidential Irrigation Initiative is building climate-resilient food production from the ground up. In Pata, Senegal, a solar irrigation project has boosted agricultural productivity and created jobs, demonstrating how integrated investments in water, energy and livelihoods can deliver both sustainability and development benefits.
In South Africa, the work of the African Climate Foundation and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) supports regional municipalities to assess climate risks and develop fit-for-purpose Climate Action Plans, building adaptation capacity where it is most needed – at the local level.
These are not pilot projects awaiting validation. They are working on projects that are waiting for investment.
Closing the gaps requires a significant shift in attitude from global financial institutions, philanthropy and development. It means supporting country-led platforms that can prepare, integrate and finance adaptation projects. It means investing in location-based systems based on location information.
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It means fostering intra- and inter-continental collaboration, so that lessons from Kigali inform decisions in Nairobi and innovations in Lagos reach communities in Dakar. And it means treating adaptation as a key economic infrastructure, not helping the needy.
Invest now for future benefits
The economic case is clear. Every dollar invested in climate change returns around four dollars in benefits on average – and up to five in the poorest economies. Underinvestment in Africa’s adaptation is as economically unjust as it is morally unjust.
The world depends on Africa’s food systems, young working people – most of the continent’s population is under the age of 25 – and its minerals. Several African countries provide a large proportion of the copper, cobalt and other important materials that support the global clean energy transition.
The drought in Zambia has already shown how climate stress can disrupt hydropower, electricity supply and mining output. Africa’s climate change cannot ignore Africa’s climate tolerance.
The world can continue to underpay for adaptation and overpay for emergencies, instability and lost progress. Or it could invest now in people, institutions and programs that are already doing the work on the ground in Africa, not in solutions from elsewhere.
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Africa has agency, knowledge and platforms. All you need is money to keep up. A high El Niño will not wait until agreed. Neither should we, apparently.
