Burkina Faso SKBo Basin of Integration Project

Adaptation Need

Climate-induced road disruptions in Burkina Faso’s SKBo region have severe, cascading effects on trade and food security, particularly for key crops like cotton, mango, rice, and maize. With the region heavily reliant on its road network, extreme weather events, floods and landslides, could shrink road accessibility by up to 90% under worst-case conditions, severely impacting market access and supply chain efficiency. Given that agriculture employs 75% of Burkina Faso’s workforce, reduced connectivity could deepen rural poverty, disrupt livelihoods, and worsen food insecurity, especially in conflict-affected areas. Without adaptation measures, the primary climate hazards, such as flooding and landslides, will pose significant risks to the SKBo road network, particularly under RCP 8.5, where the probability of road disruptions increases by 300% compared to RCP 4.5. A total of 333.7 km of roads (primary, secondary, and tertiary) are at risk under RCP 8.5, compared to 110.2 km under RCP 4.5. Vulnerable road segments include RN1, RN2, RN7, RN8, RN9, RN10, and RN11, which are critical for trade, agricultural transport, and cross-border connectivity.

GCA’s Added Value

Proposed adaptation measures include the use of higher temperature-rated bitumen, offering substantial risk reduction with a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of up to 2. Additionally, culverts and stream crossings to be designed to withstand 1:100-year rainfall events, and Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) to mitigate runoff, control soil erosion, and reduce flooding risks, enhancing transport network resilience, particularly in flood-prone areas.