Chapter 15
Impacts of Climate Change on Water
Resources in the Volta River Basin:
Reducing Vulnerability and Enhancing
Livelihoods and Sustainable
Development
George A. Manful and Yaw Opoku-Ankomah
Abstract The Volta River Basin is a transboundary basin in West Africa with a population of about 24 million people in six riparian countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo) with low gross domestic products. Water resources
are needed for domestic and industrial use, agriculture, hydropower generation, environmental health and sustainability and ecosystem functioning. Assessment of the
impact of climate change on water resources is therefore crucial for the socioeconomic development of all six countries within the basin, including measures designed
to alleviate poverty. A number of such studies assess the impacts of climate change
and variability on water resources, agriculture and human health. Climate change
adaptive measures and management practices to increase resilience and contribute
to the Sustainable Development Goals have been analyzed using historical temperature and precipitation data to determine climate variability. Climate forcing from
anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is, in most cases, evaluated using
Regional Circulation Models downscaled from General Circulation Models. Midlevel Representation Concentration Pathways and high-level forcing scenarios indicate that before the 1980s, the basin was cooler than the average of the reference
period 1976–2005. Between 2006–2100, as GHG forcing increases, warming will
increase faster than the period 1976–2005, with increases in temperature between
1.5 and 6 °C projected by 2100. Precipitation anomalies show complex patterns in
the basin with high inter-annual variability. There is no clear trend for the magnitude
of variation for precipitation. A shift and shortening of rainy seasons and an increase
in the frequency of dry spells occurring within the rainy seasons is forecast under
climate change. These changes in rainfall characteristics will have a serious impact
on agricultural production, which is largely rain-fed. Agricultural productivity is a
principal pathway out of the vicious cycle of poverty within the Volta river basin;
negative impacts on agriculture can be averted if large scale irrigation practices are
implemented as part of a comprehensive water management strategy.
G. A. Manful (B) · Y. Opoku-Ankomah
Climate Change Consultant, Post Office Box CT 4602, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana
e-mail: gmanful@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Diop et al. (eds.), Climate Change and Water Resources in Africa,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61225-2_15
333
Impacts of Climate Change on Water
Resources in the Volta River Basin:
Reducing Vulnerability and Enhancing
Livelihoods and Sustainable
Development
George A. Manful and Yaw Opoku-Ankomah
Abstract The Volta River Basin is a transboundary basin in West Africa with a population of about 24 million people in six riparian countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo) with low gross domestic products. Water resources
are needed for domestic and industrial use, agriculture, hydropower generation, environmental health and sustainability and ecosystem functioning. Assessment of the
impact of climate change on water resources is therefore crucial for the socioeconomic development of all six countries within the basin, including measures designed
to alleviate poverty. A number of such studies assess the impacts of climate change
and variability on water resources, agriculture and human health. Climate change
adaptive measures and management practices to increase resilience and contribute
to the Sustainable Development Goals have been analyzed using historical temperature and precipitation data to determine climate variability. Climate forcing from
anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is, in most cases, evaluated using
Regional Circulation Models downscaled from General Circulation Models. Midlevel Representation Concentration Pathways and high-level forcing scenarios indicate that before the 1980s, the basin was cooler than the average of the reference
period 1976–2005. Between 2006–2100, as GHG forcing increases, warming will
increase faster than the period 1976–2005, with increases in temperature between
1.5 and 6 °C projected by 2100. Precipitation anomalies show complex patterns in
the basin with high inter-annual variability. There is no clear trend for the magnitude
of variation for precipitation. A shift and shortening of rainy seasons and an increase
in the frequency of dry spells occurring within the rainy seasons is forecast under
climate change. These changes in rainfall characteristics will have a serious impact
on agricultural production, which is largely rain-fed. Agricultural productivity is a
principal pathway out of the vicious cycle of poverty within the Volta river basin;
negative impacts on agriculture can be averted if large scale irrigation practices are
implemented as part of a comprehensive water management strategy.
G. A. Manful (B) · Y. Opoku-Ankomah
Climate Change Consultant, Post Office Box CT 4602, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana
e-mail: gmanful@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Diop et al. (eds.), Climate Change and Water Resources in Africa,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61225-2_15
333