Terence Epule Epule

By Terence Epule Epule, Driss Dhiba and Abdelghani Chehbouni

In Africa, the Sahel is increasingly susceptible to climate shocks such as droughts, sandstorms (winds), and floods. Through a systematic review this work tracks the frequency with which these shocks are reported in the literature during the period 1975–2020. This work examines trends to identify which shocks are most reported, documenting their spatial distribution and evaluating the impacts of climatic and non-climatic drivers. In general, 388 shocks were reported in 164 relevant peer review papers. Southern Niger recorded 15.97% of all the shocks while Ethiopia and Senegal recorded 11.85% and 10.85% respectively. Also, West African Sahel saw about 49.97% of all shocks followed by East African Sahel with 29.89% and Central African Sahel with 12.11%. Generally, droughts (n = 219), appear to be the most frequently reported shocks followed by floods (n = 123) and winds (n = 46). The 1975–1985 decade recorded the most shocks (n = 207), followed by the 1997–2007 decade which saw (n = 80) shocks while between 1986 and 1996 a total of 52 shocks were recorded. 52% of the shocks are driven by climatic factors while 47% are driven by non-climatic drivers.

Part of the book: The Nature, Causes, Effects and Mitigation of Climate Change on the Environment

By Terence Epule Epule, Abdelghani Chehbouni and Driss Dhiba

Climate change adaptation continues to be central on the agenda of most African countries. Current understanding of the state of adaptation is limited in Africa. The Sahel is selected because of persistent declines in precipitation and rising temperatures. Here, we examine the status of adaptation actions across the Sahel by reviewing the primary peer review literature. A total of 70 peer review papers that document 414 discrete adaptations provide a snapshot of adaptations developed between 1975 and 2020. From a country-to-country perspective, Kenya has the highest number of reported adaptation actions (75 or 18.1%). From a regional standpoint, West Africa recorded about 261 or 18.1% of all adaptation actions reported. Income diversification of livelihoods, and water harnessing were reported as the most used adaptation actions in the Sahel. Based on categories, technically based adaptation actions are the most used options. The period 2008–2016 registered 65.2% of all adaptations. 98% of adaptation actions are reported to be driven by climate while non-climatic drivers account for 95% of adaptation actions. The findings presented here are proxies of climate change adaptation; some relevant information might be found in gray literature which not used because gray literature is less standardized because it is not subject to peer review.

Part of the book: The Nature, Causes, Effects and Mitigation of Climate Change on the Environment

By Terence Epule Epule, Vincent Poirier and Wiam Salih

Part of the book: Climate Change

By Terence Epule Epule, Vincent Poirier, Simon Lafontaine, Martin Jemo, Driss Dhiba, Ayoub Kechchour, Soumia Achli, Lahcen Ousayd, Wiam Salih and Perez Lionnel Kemeni Kambiet

Climate change is impacting environmental systems including agriculture. In Morocco, declining precipitation and increasing temperatures are negatively impacting crop yields. Consequently, crop yields in Morocco are now dependent on nutrient and water management. Most studies have focused on experimentation through fertilizer application and irrigation without any attention to the intrinsic linear relationships that exist between crop yields, fertilizers, and agricultural water withdrawal. The time series agricultural water withdrawal data were collected from AQUASTAT for the period 1990-2022 while data on nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash fertilizers were collected from FAOSTAT. Yield data for maize, barley, sorghum, and wheat were also collected from FAOSTAT. The data were analyzed using two machine learning models fitted through multiple linear regression. The key results show that for the three fertilizers, phosphates tend to have the strongest impacts and cause changes in crop yield as seen in the context of wheat. When both fertilizers and agricultural water withdrawal are fitted against yield, agricultural water withdrawals tend to have a strong relationship with yields. This work has helped us to identify which crops and management options need to be valorized in terms of increased access to nutrients and water.

Part of the book: Climate Change