Readiness Index_Dataset.xlsx

As global changes continue, the repercussions in Africa remain profound. This is reflected notably in food and water crises across Africa. This work examines the readiness of Africa to climate change adaptation through a newly developed readiness Index (<i>ClimAdaptCap</i> Index). Readiness for climate change adaptation is driven by the intensity of climate forcing and adaptive capacity. The historical climate score data of precipitation and temperature for the period 1991-2016 were used in this investigation. The latter were culled from the World Bank Climate Portal. The historical adaptive capacity score data included proxies such as poverty and literacy rates for the period 1991-2016. These were collected from the World Bank and Macrotrends. These climate data were normalized using the normalization function to enhance interpretation, comparison/fusion into the Index. Missing poverty and literacy rate data were estimated by linear interpolation od the poverty and literacy rate data. The <i>ClimAdaptCap</i> Index was developed to compute readiness. The results show that North and Southern Africa are the readiest for climate change adaptation. West Africa is the least ready while Middle and East Africa are in the middle. Consistent is that readiness has a positive correlation with literacy rates and an inverse one with poverty rates. The developed readiness Index adequately simulates readiness to climate change adaptation in Africa and is complementary to previous frameworks of adaptation readiness.