Disasters, Climate Change and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons and Directions

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. Copyright The author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.