Climate risks are particularly large in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where populations are exposed to a range of hazards and highly vulnerable to their impacts. Increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather threaten health and safety, food and water security, and socioeconomic development in the region. These threats negatively impact human lives, ecosystems and economies with far-reaching social implications. Some of these implications may remain invisible to the public and policymakers, including effects on intimate partner violence (IPV), which often takes place in a domestic context.
This report studies the links between climate change and IPV in SSA. Climate impacts can affect the risk of violence through multiple direct and indirect channels. Using microdata from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the report provides evidence on the impacts of climatic changes and extreme weather events on violence for different population subgroups. The obtained empirical evidence is used as the basis for projections of future IPV prevalence in SSA under different plausible climate and socioeconomic development scenarios.
