Informal settlements account for over three-quarters of residential areas in sub-Saharan Africa and have grown rapidly over the last three decades . Informal settlements will remain home to a significant proportion of the urban population of this region which is projected to grow by 2.5 times between 2020 and 2050 , driven by a complex set of underlying factors including socioeconomic conditions, inadequate planning systems, local and foreign investment patterns, and rural-to-urban migration . Yet residents of informal settlements are often excluded from macro-level visions and policies that seek to make cities safer and improve resilience . This case study compares the experience of collective action to manage risk in the informal settlements of Freetown, Sierra Leone, with other cases in Sub-Saharan Africa. These examples show how local knowledge and capacity, engagement of policymakers in meaningful ways with residents of informal communities, and institutional change, can combine to deliver adaptation outcomes at a city scale .
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report