Making Africa’s roads more resilient to climate change

Abstract

The inevitable impacts of climate change on the already stressed low volume rural road networks in Africa will have dire consequences in many countries. These networks generally suffer from a lack of appropriate construction standards and maintenance and are particularly prone to damage by the vagaries of the climate. As these changes in climatic conditions increase, the impacts on road networks will become more severe. An assessment of these impacts related to various climatic stressors has indicated a wide range of adaptation measures to improve climate resilience. However, it is essential that the road networks are assessed adequately to identify vulnerable areas and the necessary adaptation techniques. This will involve the visual assessment of all roads within each network by assessors trained to identify specific conditions and consequences. Many of these are geomorphological issues such as run-off, erosion, slope instability and material degradation. In addition, subgrade conditions (materials and moisture) need to be determined. The paper describes the main stressors and impacts on various components of the infrastructure and identifies the properties that need assessment and how this should be carried out.