Climate risks in urban and urbanizing geographies: Madagascar

This profile provides information on climate risks and their impacts in Madagascar’s growing urban centers. It includes an overview and climate summary of the country, as well as projected climate changes. It also presents challenges and opportunities to strengthen disaster risk reduction and resilience in zones where USAID currently works, and where there may be potential or need for future programming to occur as trends of migration toward larger rural towns and urban areas continue to accelerate.

Development programming in Madagascar faces a range of climate risks, including drought in the south, cyclones and floods in the center and north, sea level rise and storm surges along the coasts, and heat stress in low-elevation inland areas. A confluence of climate and urbanization trends in Madagascar is paving the way for new hazards, particularly in cities and emerging urban areas. Climate change impacts will affect cities differently based on multiple factors, including their location, the condition and structural integrity of existing physical assets (e.g., transport infrastructure, public buildings, housing, sanitation infrastructure), the needs of the population, and the capacity of their current institutions. Development in low-lying areas, for example, leads to greater exposure to the growing flood risks associated with increasing intensity of heavy rainfall, cyclone events and sea level rise.