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The impacts of climate change on agriculture can differ widely depending on a variety of factors, including the region of production, crop variety, and availability and use of inputs like fertilizers and irrigation. Gender can also play a large role in how individuals both experience and respond to climate change. Since gender norms often at least partially establish individuals’ social status, rights, and responsibilities, it is likely that men and women face different constraints and opportunities and will make different decisions when it comes to adapting to climate change.

Continuing its series on climate-smart agriculture (CSA), the World Bank has recently released a country profile for Kenya . Of the country’s 42.7 million people, 74 percent live in rural areas; agriculture employs more than 80 percent of Kenya’s rural workforce and provides about 18 percent of the country’s total formal employment. Over the past 30 years, the agricultural sector has contributed 28 percent of the country’s GDP and 65 percent of the country’s total export earnings.

Agriculture plays a major role in the economy and labor market of Rwanda, as it does in many countries in Africa south of the Sahara. The agricultural sector made up one-third of the country’s GDP in 2009-2013 and employed more than 80 percent of the Rwandan population (World Bank, 2015). With a changing climate providing new production challenges and an increasing population driving greater demand for food, however, agriculture needs to adapt if it is going to continue to be a sustainable economic mainstay.

Concern continues regarding the food security situation in southern Africa, with a special alert from the Global Information and Early Warning System for Food and Agriculture (GIEWS) citing ongoing dry weather that could significantly impact 2016 harvests throughout the region. Southern Africa’s rainy season typically lasts from October through April, with around 75 percent of annual precipitation occurring between November and March.

On December 12, nearly 200 countries signed a landmark climate change deal into effect. The COP21 Paris agreement pledges to keep global temperature increases "well below" 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to further limit increases to 1.5C by 2100. While individual countries' emission reduction targets are not legally binding, countries are legally obligated to review their progress every five years.