🌍 *Outdated Systems in a New Climate: It’s Time to Rethink Infrastructure 🏗️🌧️* What happened in Mokwa, Nigeria last week is heartbreaking—but unfortunately, not unexpected. Days of intense rainfall resulted in severe flooding, leaving more than two hundred people dead, over five hundred still unaccounted for, and more than three thousand displaced. Entire communities were submerged. Local authorities have described it as the worst flooding the area has seen in over sixty years. But this is not a one-off incident. It is part of a growing pattern. In 2022 alone, floods across Nigeria displaced approximately 1.4 million people and destroyed over 440,000 hectares of farmland. Each year, the statistics climb—and so does the toll on families, livelihoods, and food systems. Just west of Nigeria, in Ghana’s Volta Region, another climate crisis has been unfolding more quietly. Along the coast, communities such as Salakope, Amutinu, Agavedzi, Dzita, and Fuvemeh have been battling tidal waves and rising sea levels for close to a decade. Since 2015, these towns have lost land, homes, and sources of income. For many residents, relocating is no longer a choice—it has become a necessity, even if no clear options exist. Just days earlier, from May 18–19, torrential rains battered Ghana’s two most urbanized cities—Accra and Kumasi—triggering severe flooding that overwhelmed aging and inadequate drainage infrastructure. Authorities describe this as the most extreme flood event in five years in many parts. The floods claimed three lives, displaced residents, destroyed property, and significantly disrupted livelihoods. These are two different climate impacts—flooding inland, and coastal erosion along the shore—but they reveal the same core problem: climate change is outpacing our infrastructure, our planning systems, and in many cases, our ability to respond. Much of the infrastructure in our towns and cities—from drainage systems to road networks and housing layouts—was built to withstand historical weather patterns. Those patterns are changing. Rainfall that once stretched across a season now falls in a matter of hours. Storm surges that used to occur occasionally are now frequent and more aggressive. Sea level rise is not a distant threat—it is an encroaching force that communities are confronting today. What we are witnessing across the region is not just the result of extreme weather—it is the result of infrastructure that was never designed with climate risk in mind, and planning systems that are struggling to catch up. This is not only a technical challenge. It is also about governance, accountability, and the political will to invest in long-term adaptation. Emergency response is critical—but it cannot be our only strategy. We need to prioritize resilient infrastructure, locally-informed planning, and community-led adaptation solutions. We need risk data that is current, funding that is flexible, and institutions that are empowered to act before disaster strikes. The stories from Mokwa and from Ghana’s disappearing coastlines are not future projections. They are happening now—and they are growing more frequent. If we want to change the trajectory, we must start by acknowledging that we are already living in the era of climate impacts. The question is not whether change is coming. The question is whether we are ready to meet it with the urgency and coordination it demands. Jollof Might Divide Ghana 🇬🇭 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 But the Climate Crisis Doesn’t Discriminate 😃 #climatechange #adaptation #infrastructure #westafrica #flooding #sealevelrise #climateresilience #ghana #nigeria #sustainability #disasterpreparedness #communityresilience #asec https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/outdated-systems-new-climate-its-time-iispc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via