Resilience of African cities and post – 2015 Development Agenda

Abstract

Africa, like many other continents of the World is not spared from the impacts of devastating disasters triggered by nature and human activities. These adverse  impacts, combined with poverty, poor policy and institutional frameworks, make Africa one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change, climate variability and other forms of disasters. The development of the continent is seriously challenged due to its inability to make cities within the continent resilient to the adverse effects associated with disaster impacts. The impacts no doubt, destroy development gains and still pose a serious challenge to future development. This leaves many African countries struggling for development. There cannot be any meaningful development in any country if its cities are not resilient to disasters. This paper tries to examine the situation of African cities already inflicted by the impact and threats of climate change and other forms of disasters using secondary data sourced from relevant literatures. It also assesses the continent‟s level of resilience and concludes that for Africa to be relevant as a continent in the Post-2015 Development map; its cities must be resilient to the impact of climate-related and other disasters because sustainable development cannot be achieved unless cities are safe and resilient.

Keywords: Africa, development, sustainable development, resilience and climate change