The study published in the Nature Journal shows that the climate crisis is increasing the frequency and intensity of floods, droughts, and heat waves.
It pointed out that Africa is expected to be among the global regions hit hardest by the climate crisis.
“Yet the systems and technologies across the continent that monitor and forecast weather events and changes to water levels are missing, outmoded or malfunctioning. This has left African populations even more exposed to climate change."
This is according to a team of risk experts and climatologists from the UK and Africa led by the University of Cambridge.
The experts warned that without major and rapid upgrades to hydro met infrastructure, the damage and death toll caused by climate-related disasters across Africa will balloon.
The authors pointed out that over the last two decades, the average number of deaths caused by a flooding event in Africa is four times higher than the European and North American average per flood.
The team looked at World Meteorological Organization (WMO) data and found the entire continent of Africa has just six percent of the number of radar stations as the US and Europe’s combined total, despite having a comparable population size and a third more land.
Dr Asaf Tzachor, co-lead author and research affiliate at Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) said the vast gaps in Africa’s disaster reduction systems are in danger of rendering other aid investments redundant.
“For example, there is little point in investing in smallholder farms if floods are simply going to wash away seeds, agrochemicals, and machinery."
"We need to offer all Africans a chance to reduce their exposure to climate risks by fixing this glaring hydro-meteorological blind spot before even more lives are lost to the effects of global heating,” said Tzachor.
“Multilayered hydro met systems, including weather monitoring, forecasting, and early warning, are taken for granted by the Global North, and have been for decades,” said co-lead author Dr Catherine Richards, also from CSER at the University of Cambridge.
She said the most foundational layer on which the others depend is often missing, outmoded, or malfunctioning across Africa, more so than any other global region.
“Well-funded hydro met systems must become a priority to help at-risk populations mitigate and adapt to weather-related hazards as the effects of climate change take hold,” said Richards.
Tzachor said types of climate hazards vary wildly across the continent, from the cyclones in Madagascar to the protracted droughts of east Africa.
“The need for more weather stations across Africa is undeniable, but this must go hand-in-hand with improved satellite monitoring and major training initiatives to increase the number of skilled African meteorologists,” said Tzachor.
The authors added that the latest computational techniques must be adopted including automated AI approaches that combine weather data with social media activity to predict disaster dynamics.
Early warning systems need to be expanded and provide clear directions to evacuate in local dialects.
“Over 80 percent of Africans have access to a mobile network, so text messages could be a powerful way to deliver targeted warnings,” said Richards.
The World Bank has estimated a $1.5 billion price tag for continent-wide hydromet systems.
Richards pointed out that it would save African countries from $13 billion in asset losses and $22 billion in livelihood losses annually.
“A nearly nine-to-one return on investment is surely a no-brainer,” said Tzachor.
