This article appears in the following Journal of African Economics issue: AFRICAN ECONOMIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM: Plenary Session December 2006 [View the issue table of contents]
Disasters, Climate Change and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons and Directions
Independent Evaluation Group, World Bank
* Corresponding authors: Ajay Chibber, E-mail: ajay.chhibber{at}undp.org or Rachid Laajaj, Email: laajaj{at}wisc.edu
This paper explores the links among natural disasters, climate change and economic development, and attempts to outline a framework for considering these links. The paper summarises the limited knowledge of the long-term economic impact of natural disasters. Drawing links among disasters, resource management, conflicts and other transmission channels is a necessary condition to develop an appropriate response. The paper argues that African governments along with their development partners need to develop a more robust adaptation and response capability to disasters as part of development planning. The paper makes the case for more market-based financing mechanisms than have been used hitherto and an emphasis on forecasting research. It also argues for more work on the links between climate change and disasters and a new way of looking at disaster resilience as a continuum to development strategy.
The authors are respectively Director and Consultant at the Independent Evaluation Group at the World Bank. The authors are grateful to Ronald Parker, Kristin Little and Kenneth Chomitz for thoughtful comments on this paper, and to Betty Bain and Yezena Yimer for their assistance in preparing this paper. The authors are also grateful for comments received from Dr Olu Ajakaiye and participants at the AERC plenary session.