This chapter of the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the authoritative source on climate change impacts and vulnerabilities in Africa. It summarises much of the peer-reviewed literature that explains how Africa will fare in a changing climate.

Background information on why Africa is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change is provided. The major issues of regional concern including unreliable water resources, food security, natural resource management and loss of biodiversity, human health, the built environment and infrastructure and desertification and how these will be compounded by projected climate change are discussed.

The chapter highlights the uncertainty of predicting climate change impacts in Africa and emphasises the existing diversity of African climates.

The provided synthesis of years of peer-reviewed research is essential reading for anyone interested in climate change in Africa. The text is also available as an html document.

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