Climate risk profile: Senegal
This profile provides an overview of climate risk issues in Senegal, including how climate change will potentially impact agriculture, water resources, human health, fisheries and coastal zones. The brief includes an overview and climate summary of Senegal, as well as projected climate changes. Also included is information on sector impacts and vulnerabilities to climate change, the policy context and information regarding ongoing climate change projects in Senegal.
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This profile provides an overview of climate risk issues in Senegal, including how climate change will potentially impact agriculture, water resources, human health, fisheries and coastal zones. The brief includes an overview and climate summary of Senegal, as well as projected climate changes. Also included is information on sector impacts and vulnerabilities to climate change, the policy context and information regarding ongoing climate change projects in Senegal.
Senegal remains vulnerable to environmental shocks including recurring natural disasters (particularly floods and droughts) that will increase in magnitude and extent due to increased climate variability. Roughly 67 percent of Senegal’s population resides in the urban coastal zone, also the location of 90 percent of Senegalese industrial production. This coastal area is characterized by low-lying, rapidly expanding, high population suburbs, high water tables and poorly planned drainage systems. In addition to extreme events, rising sea levels place much of the coastal population, infrastructure and ecosystems at risk from flooding and erosion. Climate change will also impact climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture (70 percent of production is rainfed), livestock and fisheries, which account for 20 percent of GDP and employ a majority of the workforce.
The Directorate of Environment and Classified Establishments is responsible for strengthening the awareness and knowledge of various government agencies on climate change and adaptation issues. The National Committee on Climate Change (COMNACC) think tank is the national platform for climate change coordination and acts as the focal point for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Senegal set up the National Climate Fund as an instrument to mainstream climate finance into its 20-year blueprint to achieve reforms and economic emergence, and to help tap into global climate finance. Senegal is reformulating its Country Investment Plan to factor resilience into agricultural investments.
