From Vulnerability to Resilience: Assessing Africa’s Climate Adaptation Strategies Under the Paris Agreement

Africa remains one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing a relatively small share of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris Agreement has elevated adaptation as a central component of international climate governance, particularly through its Global Goal on Adaptation and provisions relating to climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. This article assesses the effectiveness of Africa’s climate adaptation strategies under the Paris Agreement and examines the extent to which existing legal, policy, and institutional frameworks are translating international adaptation commitments into practical resilience outcomes. The study adopts a qualitative doctrinal methodology, complemented by a thematic review of selected adaptation practices and country experiences across Africa. The analysis finds significant progress in integrating adaptation into national and regional policy frameworks through climate-smart agriculture, ecosystem-based adaptation, water resource management, disaster risk reduction, early warning systems, and regional cooperation. However, effectiveness remains constrained by inadequate and unpredictable climate finance, institutional fragmentation, technological and capacity limitations, socioeconomic vulnerability, weak monitoring and accountability mechanisms, and insufficient community participation. The article concludes that formal policy commitments alone are insufficient to produce measurable resilience; effective implementation requires predictable adaptation finance, stronger domestic institutions, improved technology access, robust monitoring and evaluation, enhanced regional cooperation, and meaningful participation of local communities and indigenous knowledge holders.