The Impact of Rainfall Variability on Diets and Undernutrition of Young Children in Rural Burkina Faso.

Climate change and consequent increases in rainfall variability may have negative consequences for the food production of subsistence farmers in West Africa with adverse impacts on nutrition and health. We explored the pathway from rainfall through diet up to child undernutrition for rural Burkina Faso. The study used data of a dynamic cohort with 1,439 children aged 7-60 months from the Nouna Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS) for 2017 to 2019.

Seasonal forecasts offer economic benefit for hydrological decision making in semi-arid regions.

Increasing frequencies of droughts require proactive preparedness, particularly in semi-arid regions. As forecasting of such hydrometeorological extremes several months ahead allows for necessary climate proofing, we assess the potential economic value of the seasonal forecasting system SEAS5 for decision making in water management. For seven drought-prone regions analyzed in America, Africa, and Asia, the relative frequency of drought months significantly increased from 10 to 30% between 1981 and 2018.

Observed data of extreme rainfall events over the West African Sahel.

The data described in this article are sets of daily rainfall values derived from observed station records. The data was recorded by 72 in-situ rain gauges spread over the West African Sahel. The daily rainfall time series from synoptic, climate, agro-meteorological, and rainfall stations are assessed for quality and consistency before extreme values are extracted based on 90th, 95th, and 99th percentile thresholds.

The impact of rain events on CO emissions from contrasting land use systems in semi-arid West African savannas.

In the future the Sudanian savanna - one of West Africa's high-potential "bread baskets" - will likely face shorter rainy seasons with more extreme rains and droughts. That could have serious impacts on the vegetation and its carbon dioxide (CO) exchange with potentially increasing CO emissions accelerating climate warming. Understanding how the CO fluxes in this area respond to environmental variables, in particular rain events, is essential, but available data are scarce.

Carbon dioxide fluxes from contrasting ecosystems in the Sudanian Savanna in West Africa.

Background: The terrestrial land surface in West Africa is made up of several types of savanna ecosystems differing in land use changes which modulate gas exchanges between their vegetation and the overlying atmosphere. This study compares diurnal and seasonal estimates of CO fluxes from three contrasting ecosystems, a grassland, a mixture of fallow and cropland, and nature reserve in the Sudanian Savanna and relate them to water availability and land use characteristics.

Results: Over the study period, and for the three study sites, low soil moisture availability, high vapour pressure deficit and low ecosystem respiration were prevalent during the dry season (November to March), but the contrary occurred during the rainy season (May to October).