Infrastructure and climate change: a study of impacts and adaptations in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia
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10584_2014_Article_1219.pdf
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Author(s)
Chinowsky, Paul S.
Schweikert, Amy E.
Strzepek, Niko L.
Strzepek, Kenneth
Date Issued
August 2014
Journal
Climatic Change
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Citation
Chinowsky, Paul S., Amy E. Schweikert, Niko L. Strzepek, and Ken Strzepek. “Infrastructure and Climate Change: a Study of Impacts and Adaptations in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia.” Climatic Change 130, no. 1 (August 22, 2014): 49–62. © UNU-WIDER 2014
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The African Development Bank has called for $40 Billion USD per year over the coming decades to be provided to African countries to address development issues directly related to climate change. The current study addresses a key component of these issues, the effect of climate change on the road infrastructure of Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia. The study incorporates a stressor-response approach to estimate the effects of projected precipitation, temperature, and flooding changes on the paved and unpaved road infrastructure of these countries. The paper highlights the result of running 425 climate scenarios for each road type and policy option from 2010 to 2050. Based on this broad analysis, it is estimated that the three southern African countries are facing a potential $596 million price tag based on median climate scenarios to maintain and repair roads as a result of damages directly related to temperature and precipitation changes from potential climate change through 2050. The challenge for policy makers is to determine the potential risk that a country is facing based on the uncertainties associated with the multiple aspects of climate change modeling.
This article is part of a Special Issue on “Climate Change and the Zambezi River Valley” edited by Finn Tarp, James Juana, and Philip Ward.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Global Change Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joint Program on the Science & Policy of Global Change
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-014-1219-8
