Authors :
Niying Roger Mbihbiih
Volume/Issue :
Volume 8 - 2023, Issue 8 - August
Google Scholar :
https://bit.ly/3TmGbDi
Scribd :
https://tinyurl.com/3c45y5f4
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8285973
Abstract :
Regional integration in Africa is hamstrung by
a multiplicity of factors, ranging from the ideological
schools (gradualist or radicalist) which African leaders
ascribe to as well as the weak operational parameters
which regulates the mandate of the African Union. In
recognizing that the objective of effective regional
integration can be achieved if the relevant policy and
institutional support is harnessed, it is increasingly being
recognized that climate change is a formidable modifier of
regional integration in Africa. The specificity of climate
change within the context of regional integration in Africa
is that its poses an existentialist threat to the very survival
of Africa if appropriate adaptation and mitigation
strategies are not rapidly activated. This paper seeks to
explain the inter-linkages between climate change on the
one hand and regional integration on the other. Apart
from exacerbating droughts, famine, landslides and other
natural disasters as well as patterns of human settlements
and welfare, climate change has been emerged to become a
permanent fixture of international policy making and
development planning. The paper’s structure is divided
into two parts. It opens with a detailed introduction and
proceeds to the first part which briefly explain the
operational context of regional integration and climate
change. The second part focuses on how climate change
influences the trajectory of regional integration. To be fair
in our analysis, we also attempt to show how climate
change can become a catalyst for regional integration
seeing that it is being tackled at the national, sub-regional
and regional levels with assistance from international
funding agencies and partners. This paper makes use of
secondary sources of data and applies purely qualitative
analysis.
Keywords :
Climate Change, Regional Integration, Africa, Climate Governance, Adaptation and Mitigation
Regional integration in Africa is hamstrung by
a multiplicity of factors, ranging from the ideological
schools (gradualist or radicalist) which African leaders
ascribe to as well as the weak operational parameters
which regulates the mandate of the African Union. In
recognizing that the objective of effective regional
integration can be achieved if the relevant policy and
institutional support is harnessed, it is increasingly being
recognized that climate change is a formidable modifier of
regional integration in Africa. The specificity of climate
change within the context of regional integration in Africa
is that its poses an existentialist threat to the very survival
of Africa if appropriate adaptation and mitigation
strategies are not rapidly activated. This paper seeks to
explain the inter-linkages between climate change on the
one hand and regional integration on the other. Apart
from exacerbating droughts, famine, landslides and other
natural disasters as well as patterns of human settlements
and welfare, climate change has been emerged to become a
permanent fixture of international policy making and
development planning. The paper’s structure is divided
into two parts. It opens with a detailed introduction and
proceeds to the first part which briefly explain the
operational context of regional integration and climate
change. The second part focuses on how climate change
influences the trajectory of regional integration. To be fair
in our analysis, we also attempt to show how climate
change can become a catalyst for regional integration
seeing that it is being tackled at the national, sub-regional
and regional levels with assistance from international
funding agencies and partners. This paper makes use of
secondary sources of data and applies purely qualitative
analysis.
Keywords :
Climate Change, Regional Integration, Africa, Climate Governance, Adaptation and Mitigation
