Modelling the Potential Impacts of Forestation on Extreme Climate Events over West Africa

Abstract

Extreme climate events (extreme rainfall and heatwaves) can have devastating impacts on society, the environment and economy. In West Africa, extreme climate events generally lead to loss of lives and property, due to the high vulnerability of most communities in this region to the impacts of weather and climate extremes. For instance, in 1997, floods and inundations induced by extreme rainfall events over West Africa rendered more than 800,000 people homeless in 14 different countries (Tschakert et al., 2010). More recently in September 2009, floods induced by an extreme rainfall event (>260 mm/day) in Ouagadougou destroyed about 300 hectares of crops, wrecked nearly 25,000 houses and rendered more than 100,000 people homeless (FAO, 2009).