Climate security – Sahel
| Alternative: Climate security in the Sahel |
| SDGs: Climate Action |
| Indicator: 13.1.1 “Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population |
Copernicus services of relevance:       |
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Area description: African Sahel depends heavily on natural resources like land products and water and relies on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism for their livelihoods. The region is regularly affected by drought and, consistently, is increasingly considered by experts as a climate change hotspot, with unpredictable weather patterns becoming the new normality. The region is also recognised among the ones subject to El Nino and La Nina, with July-September being the season exposed to drought and floods, respectively (Lenssen et al., 2020). The impact of the observed climate change effects on food insecurity and/or political instability frequently relates to the control of key natural resources like land and water, and affects population factors in the region like poverty, demographics, migration, and history of violent disputes.
*Conflict data from Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED); www.acleddata.com |
| Rationale: The Sahel and its countries comprises the region with the highest vulnerability to food insecurity and, at the same time, low readiness to fight climate change. Grecequet et al. (2017) showed how people tend to move from areas most exposed to climate shocks to less climate-vulnerable areas. In fact, the Sahel is a crucial part of the Trans-Mediterranean migration region, i.e., the one encompassing departure, transit, and destination countries from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe (Caporaso et al., 2019). To work in monitoring SDG 13 “Climate Action” achievement in these regions, the Pilot will explore the use of several data relevant to Climate Security to approximate the calculation of the UN indicator 13.1.1. “Number of deaths, missing person and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population”. |
| Applications: (currently not applicable) |
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Leader: SATCEN Partners: CMCC, SISTEMA |
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Main stakeholders involved SATCEN stakeholders, Copernicus Security Service in Support to EU External Action, GEO SPACE-SECURITY Pilot Initiatives |
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Objectives: Climate Security refers to climate-related events, as for instance slow (sea level rise, droughts) or fast (floods, strong winds) onsets, that amplify existing risks in society, endangering the security of humans, key infrastructures, economy, or ecosystems. When drought or floods events are happening with a major frequency and a short time interval, the impacts are exacerbated. To make the right decisions, undertake the appropriate measurements and work towards a sustainable future in the Sahel region, it is essential to better understand and monitor the link between the cumulated conditions from compound climate events and its consequences, and there is where EO data can provide high-value information and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. |
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Expected results & outcomes: Results will be available through a web-based graphical user interface where the processed data is made available to the users, linked to the relevant SDG indicators. The results will enhance cross-services developments, especially enabling services that link Climate and Security domains. Outcomes of the study can support policy-making processes, in particular the UN Sustainable Development Agenda and those related to climate change and/or security in the EU (e.g., EU Green Deal, CSDP). Overall, outcomes will foster a deeper knowledge of climate change on vulnerable areas and to learn lessons for similar scenarios of interest for EU institutional and research users in the short and mid-term. |
| References: Caporaso et al. (2019) Doi:10.1007/978-3-030-23969-5_3; Grecequet et al. (2017) Doi:10.3390/su9050720; Lenssen et al. (2020) Doi:10.1175/WAF-D-19-0235.1 |
