Africana hosts talk on climate change impact in Africa

While future effects of climate change are often in the news, climate-related crises are already affecting communities around the world, particularly in Africa.

In 2015-16, the El Niño weather cycle led to food shortages caused by drought conditions in large swathes of Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique. By 2018, the climate change-related drought sparked fears of Cape Town becoming the first city in the world to run out of water.

The Africana Studies and Research Center is hosting “Disaster: Cyclone Idai, Climate Change and Climate Migration,” a talk that will discuss impacts of climate change, climate migration and food scarcity, April 30 at 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

The event will bring together faculty members across different colleges whose research focuses on agriculture, food security, refugee and immigration history. A panel discussion moderated by Noliwe Rooks, professor of Africana studies, will include Natalie Mahowald, the Irving Porter Church Professor in Engineering in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the Atkinson Center faculty director of Environment; Rachel Bezner Kerr, associate professor of development sociology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; N’Dri Therese Assie-Lumumba, professor of Africana studies and the president of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies; and Maria Cristina Garcia, the Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies.

The event is sponsored by the Africana Studies and Research Center and the College of Arts and Sciences.

Yvette Lisa Ndlovu

Media Contact

Gillian Smith