The Coronavirus crisis could result in a catastrophic loss of life in poorer countries and push half a billion more people into poverty. Countries like the Central African Republic have just three ventilators for almost five million people, and Malawi has only a quarter of the nurses needed to provide healthcare for all.

Across Africa, ambitions to achieve inclusive and sustainable development are being undermined by inadequate investment in the care economy.

This brief focuses on the extreme weather and humanitarian crises that have hit the Horn of Africa and Mozambique. It shows how the countries that have done little to fuel the climate crisis already face its worst impacts.

Africa sits at the confluence of two related and mutually reinforcing developmental challenges – poverty and inequality – the solutions for which are a matter of policy choice. Despite the recent spate of economic growth, the continent remains afflicted by entrenched poverty and alarmingly high and rising inequality.

Small-scale producers grow most of the rice in Asia, providing food security, jobs and income across the region. However, a combination of worsening inequality in food value chains and the crippling impacts of climate change are leaving rice farming systems at a critical juncture.

Today, more than 8.1 million Nepalis live in poverty. Women and girls are more likely to be poor, despite the significant contribution they make to the economy, especially through unpaid care and household work. More than one-third of Nepal’s children under 5 years are stunted, and 10% suffer wasting due to acute malnutrition.

In the arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) counties of Kenya, people are experiencing a food security and nutrition crisis as a result of the drought that has worsened since August 2016.

Climate change is already forcing people from their land and homes, and putting many more at risk of displacement in the future.

There is overwhelming evidence of the harm caused by the European Union’s current bioenergy policy to people in developing countries, to the climate and to Europe’s own sustainable development. The policy is on a collision course with the Paris climate agreement and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The devastating impacts of the 2015–16 El Niño will be felt well into 2017. This crisis was predicted, yet overall, the response has been too little too late. The looming La Niña event may further hit communities that are already deeply vulnerable.