Your search found 3 records
(Location: IWMI-HQ Call no: P 6916 Record No: H035103)
(0.64 MB)
2 Miller, J.; Taylor, C.; Guichard, F.; Peyrille, P.; Vischel, T.; Fowe, T.; Panthou, G.; Visman, E.; Bologo, M.; Traore, K.; Coulibaly, G.; Chapelon, N.; Beucher, F.; Rowell, D. P.; Parker, D. J. 2022. High-impact weather and urban flooding in the West African Sahel – a multidisciplinary case study of the 2009 event in Ouagadougou. Weather and Climate Extremes, 36:100462. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2022.100462]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051203)
(7.32 MB) (7.32 MB)
On September 1st 2009 an extreme high-impact weather event occurred in Burkina Faso that had significant impacts upon the capital city Ouagadougou and its inhabitants. Subsequent reporting and research has however not focused on the contributing socio-economic and hydrological factors and the role of global warming and climatic change remains uncertain. This reflects a paucity of evidence attributing such extreme weather events to climate change for the West Africa region and limits the knowledge base for urban planning to climate-related risks which pose serious threats. This case study provides a holistic assessment of the most extreme urban hydrometeorological event recorded in the West African Sahel, that links synoptic conditions to climate change and through to hydrological impacts on vulnerable urban populations. The intention is to inform regional decision-makers on climate change and flood-generating high-impact weather events at the urban scale and to bridge the gap between what scientists understand as useful and decision-makers view as useable at the city scale by providing interdisciplinary answers to key questions raised by local stakeholders.
Such an approach was shown to foster enhanced dialogue and engagement with stakeholders, while also providing a focus for communicating science at variable time- and spatial scales and between disciplines to improve understanding of how global processes have localised consequences. This reveals that Ouagadougou remains vulnerable to climate change and that such extreme weather events will become more frequent. But it is also demonstrated the complexity of attributing extreme events at such localised ‘urban’ scales to atmospheric phenomena affected by global climate change. Regional climate models are evolving and becoming more able to represent such extreme weather phenomena at suitable scales, enabling improved representation of climate-driven changes on such events, improving the ability for short-range forecasts in the future. Frameworks for managing flood risks however remain weak and under-resourced and there is limited capacity to manage flood risk from such events, particularly when rapid urbanisation amplifies vulnerability concerns. Recommendations are made to improve flood-resilience to future storms.
3 Miller, J. D.; Vischel, T.; Fowe, T.; Panthou, G.; Wilcox, C.; Taylor, C. M.; Visman, E.; Coulibaly, G.; Gonzalez, P.; Body, R.; Vesuviano, G.; Bouvier, C.; Chahinian, N.; Cazenave, F. 2022. A modelling-chain linking climate science and decision-makers for future urban flood management in West Africa. Regional Environmental Change, 22(3):93. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-022-01943-x]
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051334)
(3.14 MB) (3.14 MB)
Intensification of the hydrological cycle resulting from climate change in West Africa poses significant risks for the region’s rapidly urbanising cities, but limited research on flood risk has been undertaken at the urban domain scale. Furthermore, conventional climate models are unable to realistically represent the type of intense storms which dominate the West African monsoon. This paper presents a decision-first framing of climate research in co-production of a climate-hydrology-flooding modelling chain, linking scientists working on state-of-the-art regional climate science with decision-makers involved in city planning for future urban flood management in the city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The realistic convection-permitting model over Africa (CP4A) is applied at the urban scale for the first time and data suggest significant intensification of high-impact weather events and demonstrate the importance of considering the spatio-temporal scales in CP4A. Hydrological modelling and hydraulic modelling indicate increases in peak flows and flood extents in Ouagadougou in response to climate change which will be further exacerbated by future urbanisation. Advances in decision-makers’ capability for using climate information within Ouagadougou were observed, and key recommendations applicable to other regional urban areas are made. This study provides proof of concept that a decision-first modelling-chain provides a methodology for co-producing climate information that can, to some extent, bridge the usability gap between what scientists think is useful and what decision-makers need.
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