State of the Climate in Africa 2022
The global climate system is complex. In order to help understand such complexity, the WMO State of the Climate reports use climate indicators to describe how the climate has changed—providing a broad view of the climate at a global and regional scale. These indicators are representative of quantities most relevant to monitoring climate change, including the surface temperature, heat content of the ocean, greenhouse gas concentrations and other factors, as well as the responses of land, oceans and ice. The following site aims to provide an overview of the State of the Climate in Africa in 2022. For more information and further detail, please find the full report at the bottom of the page.
The Global Context
Before exploring the state of the climate in Africa, it is important to first know what the overall global climate looked like in 2022.
Atmospheric concentrations of the three major greenhouse gases (CO 2 , CH 4 and N 2 O) reached new observed record highs in 2021 and real-time data indicate that levels continued to increase in 2022. The global annual mean temperature in 2022 was around 1.15 ±0.13°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, less warm than in some recent years owing to cooling La Niña conditions at the start and end of the year. Ocean heat content in 2022 was the highest on record. Ocean warming and accelerated loss of ice mass from the ice sheets contributed to global mean sea level rise, which also reached a record high in 2022. See more information on the State of the Global Climate here .
The State of the Climate in Africa
Temperature Rise
In 2022, the mean near-surface air temperature was 0.16°C above the 1991-2020 average.
The year therefore ranked between the ninth and the sixteenth warmest year for Africa in the 123-year record, depending on the data set used.
Warming doesn't happen equally across the continent.
For example, temperature in South Africa was about 0.4 °C above the 1991-2020 average, making 2022 approximately the fourth hottest year on record in the country since 1951.
On the other hand, Cameroon reported one of the coldest years in the past twenty years, with a temperature anomaly of -0.24 °C for 2022 compared with the 1991-2020 average.
It is important to note that there are still large areas of uncertainty over areas of the continent.
Major Climate Drivers
Rainfall in Africa is affected by climate drivers, including the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and sea surface temperature anomaly patterns in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean.
Click on the video to learn more about ENSO.
La Niña conditions emerged in mid-2020 and continued into a third year in 2022. It is the third time that such an event, referred to as “triple-dip” La Niña, has occurred in the last 50 years.
Click on the video to learn more about ENSO.
Precipitation
African rainfall is highly variable and influenced by drivers such as El Niño, La Niña, the Atlantic and Indian Ocean dipoles and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.
Drier-than-normal conditions with five below-average rainy seasons in a row in East Africa were largely driven by the combined effect of La Niña and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole.
Other regions with marked rainfall deficits included the western part of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, portions of Southern Africa, and Madagascar.
On the other hand, precipitation was above the 1991-2020 average across north-eastern Africa, large parts of West Africa, the eastern Sahel region, Sudan, and parts of South Africa.
Sea Level Rise
Rising temperatures on land and sea are contributing to accelerating sea level rise, primarily through melting land-ice and thermal expansion of the ocean.
Since the early 1990s, sea level has been routinely measured globally and regionally by high-precision altimeter satellites. Over the past three decades, the global mean sea level has risen at an average rate of 3.4 mm/year.
The rate of rise is not geographically even, mostly a result of non-uniform ocean thermal expansion and regional salinity variations.
Sea-level rise was measured along 7 coastal regions of Africa from January 1993 to June 2022, showing a similar rate to the global average.
The highest rate of sea-level rise around Africa has been observed along the coastal areas of the Red Sea, with a rate of 3.7 mm/year, followed by the western Indian Ocean, where the rate exceeds 3.6 mm/year.
The rate of sea-level rise is lower than the global mean over the southern Mediterranean Sea, with a rate of about 2.4 mm/yr.
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Extreme events in Africa in 2022 as reported by WMO Members. Event type is differentiated by colored triangles.
Impacts
Agriculture & Food Security
Persistent droughts and above average rainfall had both positive and negative impacts on agriculture and food security across Africa in 2022.
In East Africa, continuous drought conditions had a significant impact on pastureland and cropland.
In northern and eastern pastoral and marginal agricultural areas of Kenya, the number of acute food insecure people was estimated at 4.4 million between October and December 2022, almost 90 % higher than 2021.
By September 2022, prices of coarse grains were exceptionally high in Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
In Somalia, prices of maize and sorghum were up to 45% and 75% higher respectively, due to low production after four consecutive below-average harvests.
In North Africa, aggregate cereal production in 2022 was estimated to be about 10% below the previous five-year average and 14% less than 2021.
However, elsewhere across the continent, favorable rainfall led to improvements in agricultural production and food security.
In West Africa, aggregate cereal production in 2022 was estimated at 76.4 million tonnes, around 7 % higher than 2021.
In Southern Africa, total cereal output was estimated at 38.5 million tonnes, around 5 % higher than the previous five-year average, but about 10 % less than the record high of 2021.
Above-average cereal outturns were also estimated in Madagascar, Malawi and South Africa, thanks to conducive weather conditions in the main producing areas.
Climate change will continue to impact food security across the continent. Projected annual food imports are expected to increase by about a factor of three from US$ 35 billion to US$ 110 billion by 2025.
Population Displacement
Refugees and Internally Displaced People in Africa are on the frontlines of the climate emergency. Many live in climate “hotspots”, where they typically lack the resources to adapt to an increasingly hostile environment and can be confronted by compounding or consecutive events.
In Somalia, almost 1.2 million people became internally displaced.
Somalia was hosting almost 35 000 refugees and asylum seekers in drought-affected areas, including over 2 600 new arrivals from Ethiopia.
Over 60 000 people fleeing the combined impacts of drought and conflict crossed into Ethiopia and Kenya.
A further 512 000 internal displacements associated with drought were recorded in Ethiopia.
Other high-impact weather events in 2022 happened consecutively, leaving little time for recovery between shocks and compounding repeated and protracted displacement.
For example, Southern Africa was hit by a series of cyclones in the first months of 2022, leading to a surge in the need for protection and shelter.
In Mozambique, two months after Ana, impacts included destruction of the homes and shelters of over 20 000 pre-existing internally displaced households.
Tropical Cyclone Gombe compounded its impacts, affecting over 73 6000 people, damaging or destroying some 14 2000 homes in many of the same areas, and forcing over 23 000 to take refuge in official shelters.
An assessment of existing shelter sites for internally displaced people in Nampula found that around 40% of the temporary shelters had been destroyed.
Meanwhile, displacement continued for over 129 000 people in Sofala Province who had been forced to flee by Tropical Cyclone Idai in 2019.
Climate Policy & Strategic Perspectives
“Under all mitigation and adaptation scenarios, Africa will continue to experience residual loss and damage. The level of loss and damage and therefore the costs incurred will depend, among others, on the level of ambition of global mitigation actions and the level of investment in adaptation at the local level.”
The loss and damage costs in Africa due to climate change are projected to range between US$ 290 billion (in a 2 °C warming scenario) and US$ 440 billion (in a 4 °C warming scenario).
There is therefore a need to continue supporting climate governance in Africa and ensuring that sustainable development incorporates climate adaptation strategies.
Climate governance frameworks in Africa have led to the development of national and regional climate governance frameworks, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
As of February 2023, a total of 53 Parties from Africa had submitted their NDCs, and over 90% had submitted an updated NDC, highlighting priority sectors for adaptation.
Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is one of the region's top priority areas for adaptation, which requires robust climate services.
However, less than 30% of Members reported providing climate projections to the DRR sector, and less than 40% providing tailored products to the sector.
Additionally, 60% of people in Africa lack coverage of an Early Warning System.
Following the call of the United Nations (UN) Secretary General for WMO to lead the process for Early Warning for All (EW4All) initiative, an EW4All Action Plan for Africa (2023 – 2027), has been initiated and will be launched at the Africa Climate Summit, in September 2023.
Financing
Exploring innovative financing mechanisms could help to accelerate the implementation of NDCs, improve climate services and drive early warning system implementation.
The Systematic Observations Financing Facility ( SOFF ) is a financing mechanism that seeks to close the major gaps in observations in Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
By strengthening the underpinning data required for weather forecasts, early warning systems and climate services, SOFF will contribute to strengthen climate adaptation and resilient development of Africa, based on sound scientific evidence and robust early warning services.
Additionally, there are opportunities to leverage the continent's vast nature-based ecosystems to attract innovative financing, such as green and blue bonds and loans, sustainability or sustainability-linked bonds and loans, debt-for-climate swaps, and more efficient and better-priced carbon markets.
Overall, in 2022, temperatures continued to rise across the African continent. Several extreme climate events occurred throughout the year, including flooding in many parts of the Sahel, devastating drought in the Horn of Africa and tropical cyclones in the South Indian Ocean.
Worsening extremes had devastating consequences on agriculture, food security and human mobility, affecting millions across the continent and setting back progress on development.
Investing in early warnings and early actions is a priority for saving lives, promoting economic development, valuing development gains and livelihoods, protecting the environment, and reducing the cost of disaster responses.
The level of loss and damage, and therefore the costs incurred, will depend on many factors, including the level of ambition of global mitigation actions and the level of investment in adaptation at the local level.
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