"The three-year drought that hit Cape Town was the local expression of the global climate change emergency. It shows what happens when the normal demands of running a city, with its many development challenges, collide with a climate 'shock' like this one. The lessons learned from how the City and its residents responded are relevant globally, as major cities around the world face growing populations and ever-shrinking resources in the face of a changing climate."--Back cover.

Water is fundamental to all life. From the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, to the extreme water shortages that have struck California in recent years, modern societies often take its abundance for granted until it unexpectedly becomes scarce. Drought is one of the many problems anthropogenic climate change may exacerbate, but it is also a complex phenomenon at the intersection of a range of scientific disciplines and public policy issues. In this innovative book, Benjamin I. Cook brings together climate science, hydrology, and ecology to provide a synthetic overview of drought and its environmental and social consequences. Cook introduces readers to the hydroclimate and its components, explaining the global water cycle, the earth’s climate system, and the distribution of water resources. He discusses drought dynamics and variability over time, the climatological context and ecological effects, and environmental issues such as desertification, land degradation, and groundwater depletion. He also considers the socioeconomic impacts of drought and the role of drought risk management policy, especially in light of how climate change is expected to affect drought risk and severity. Cook gives special attention to paleoclimate and the role of drought in the crises of ancient civilizations. A scientifically comprehensive and approachable overview of water issues throughout the world, Drought is a critical interdisciplinary text that will be essential reading for a broad range of students in earth science and environmental and sustainability studies.

This volume provides a textbook and reference work on the physical and biotic landscapes of Southern Africa. It examines the links between these environments and the ways in which they have been, are and will likely be subject to change. It covers the geomorphology, soils, vegetation and land use across a range of landscapes, including mountains, coasts, savannah, drylands and wetlands, and identifies the impacts of current and potential climate change and other factors on these environments. The geographical focus is on the region defined by Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Swaziland. Illustrated throughout in full colour, the book will serve as a reference volume for researchers and environmental professionals internationally, as well as a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate-level students of geography, ecology and environmental studies in Southern Africa.

Examining the economic forces that will shape Africa's future. Africa’s Lions examines the economic growth experiences of six fast growing and/or economically dominant African countries. Expert African researchers offer unique perspectives into the challenges and issues in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and South Africa. Despite a growing body of research on African economies, very little has focused on the relationship between economic growth and employment outcomes at the detailed country level. A lack of empirical data has deprived policymakers of a robust evidence base on which to make informed decisions. By harnessing country-level household, firm, and national accounts data together with existing analytical country research—the authors have attempted to bridge this gap. The growth of the global working-age population to 2030 will be driven primarily by Africa, which means that the relationship between growth and employment should be understood within the context of each country’s projected demographic challenge and the associated implications for employment growth. A better understanding of the structure of each country’s workforce and the resulting implications for human capital development, the vulnerably employed, and the working poor, will be critical to informing the development policy agenda. As a group, the six countries profiled in Africa’s Lions will largely shape the continent's future. Each country chapter focuses on the complex interactions between economic growth and employment outcomes, within the individual Africa’s Lions context.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of climate variability and change in Africa, and includes impact assessments and case studies from integration frameworks, with a particular focus on climate, agriculture and water resources. Richly illustrated, the book highlights case studies from western, eastern and southern African region, and explores related development policies. Climate change adaptation research, prediction, and reanalysis are also addressed