The CCAPS program released four student working papers today by Master of Global Policy Studies students at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. The graduate student work is based on collaboration with CCAPS researchers as part of a year-long Policy Research Project course on climate change and security in Africa at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. The course was led by Dr. Joshua Busby and builds on the CCAPS vulnerability model developed by Busby and his team.

In Student Working Paper No. 1, Vulnerability to Climate Change: Water Resource Stress and Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, graduate students Sachin D. Shah, Sarah J. Williams, and Shu Yang examine the potential impact of a confluence of factors on countries’ overall vulnerability and their ability to minimize the effects of climate change. The study on southern Africa includes Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Graduate students Bonnie Doty, Erika Grajeda, Pace Phillips, and Atul Shrestha outline the potential impact of climate change on human security in East and Central Africa in Student Working Paper No. 2, Vulnerability to Climate Change: An Assessment of East and Central Africa. The assessment identifies western Ethiopia, southern Sudan, eastern Burundi, and the tri-border region between Uganda, Sudan, and the DRC as the most vulnerable to climate change.

Vulnerability to Climate Change: Assessing Climate Vulnerability in North Africa is the third student working paper by graduate students Sanjeet Deka, Christian Glakas, and Marc Olivier. The authors refine the CCAPS vulnerability model to account for region-specific characteristics relevant to North Africa, including migration, water resources, and terrorism. They conclude that Sudan appears to be the most vulnerable country in the region.

In Student Working Paper No. 4, “Vulnerability to Climate Change in West Africa: Adaptive Capacity in the Regional Context,“ Emily Joiner, Derell Kennedo, and Jesse Sampson expand on the CCAPS vulnerability model by incorporating new data on the political economy of governments as it may relate to their willingness and ability to adapt to climate change. The graduate students include case studies on Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau, which both rank among the most vulnerable places in the region.

The student working papers are available online here.