State of Climate in Africa 2023

The State of the Climate in Africa 2023 was released on 2 September at the twelfth Climate Change for Development in Africa Conference to create awareness and advocacy for strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in Africa. The report highlights that 2023 ranked between the first and third warmest year of the last 124 years, with North Africa recording the most rapid warming. The continent recorded unprecedented heatwaves and persistent drought in some regions with large variations in annual precipitation.

The impacts from extreme weather and climate events are widespread across the continent and require augmented and sustained capacity development in National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs). The report informed the African Group of Negotiators for Twenty-ninth session of the Conference of Parties (COP 29) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Baku, Azerbaijan, of impacts in key socioeconomic sectors and outlined the priority needs of the NMHSs. The delegates noted that the key messages in the report would support the strengthening of initiatives to implement Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in Africa and inform the decision-making of African Group of Negotiators to COP 29.

The State of Climate in Africa Report is a collaborative product of WMO, the African Union Commission (AUC), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) through the Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), various other United Nations agencies, regional organizations and institutes, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, Disaster Management Agencies, climate, socioeconomic and policy experts from Africa and experts from partner international scientific and technical institutions.