This report presents healthcare as a complex system of systems—a network of interdependent components including water, energy, waste, digital and transport services, all susceptible to climate-related hazards. This interconnectedness makes health infrastructure especially vulnerable to climate change, as disruptions in one area can trigger cascading effects across the entire system. By mapping these interdependencies, this report identifies targeted adaptation strategies to prevent such chain reactions and ensure the continuous delivery of healthcare services.

After more than three decades of civil war, Somalia faces overlapping challenges of fragility and weak governance, conflict, and rapidly intensifying climate impacts. A 2023 World Bank study found that over half of all Internally Displaced People (IDPs) since 2016 were displaced by failed rainy seasons. More people are now displaced by climate than by conflict. Additionally, many urban residents live in informal settlements with poor services, insecure tenure, and heightened exposure to floods and wildfires.  

The Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Inland Water Transport Sector country brief explores opportunities to unlock the potential of the Gambia River as a resilient transport corridor. It assesses climate risks to riverine infrastructure and navigation conditions, and proposes strategies to improve multimodal connectivity, strengthen port resilience, and support adaptive planning for future inland transport development.

The Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Water Sector country brief examines growing pressures on water resources driven by climate variability, salinization, and rising demand. It identifies priority investments in climate-smart agriculture, groundwater governance, monitoring systems, and green-blue infrastructure to enhance water security while delivering economic and ecosystem co-benefits.

The Adaptation and Resilience Options for the Transport Sector country brief highlights the vulnerability of the country’s highly concentrated transport network — including the Port of Banjul, key national road corridors, and airport infrastructure — to increasing flooding, heat stress, and coastal risks. It presents cost-effective resilience strategies, including improved drainage, resilient pavement design, strengthened maintenance systems, and the scaling of nature-based solutions such as mangrove and floodplain restoration to protect strategic assets.

Africa stands at a critical crossroads where climate change is not just an environmental challenge but a profound security imperative. Increasingly frequent droughts, floods, and water stress are fueling instability and conflict across the Sahel and Horn of Africa, with far-reaching consequences for regional and global peace. Adaptation is no longer a distant development goal—it is central to safeguarding stability, resilience, and security.

In 2025, the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) built upon the success of the Pilot Youth Academy on Climate Adaptation and Leadership by hosting the Pan-African Youth Academy on Climate Adaptation and Leadership, a training-of-trainers program designed to equip participants with the skills and knowledge to replicate climate adaptation training in their home countries.

This year’s Stories of Resilience redefines true progress as a measure of the systems transformed over outputs delivered. Drawing on global examples and lessons on inclusive funding, philanthropy, and justice, it underscores how aligning local priorities with national governance and finance can drive lasting change.

This joint Global Center on Adaptation–Climate Policy Initiative report, Adaptation Finance Flows to Africa – State and Future Trends, provides a clear, data-driven view of where we stand—and a compass for where we must go next.