Climate change is intensifying rainfall in Southern Africa, where rapid urbanisation and poor drainage made recent flooding in Botswana and South Africa deadly, a group of scientists said, while a separate study showed some of the continent’s biggest cities are being squeezed by wet and dry extremes.
Last month, southern Botswana and eastern South Africa suffered five consecutive days of heavy rainfall which caused severe flooding across the region, killing at least 31 people, including six children, and displacing about 5,000 others.
Such episodes are becoming more frequent in a warming world, found scientists working with the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, based in Botswana, South Africa, the UK, Denmark, the US and elsewhere.
Alongside heavier precipitation, a key driver of disasters in cities is inadequate infrastructure, they said. For instance, in Botswana’s capital Gaborone, drainage systems have not kept pace with its growing population density and fast-expanding construction, making low-lying areas particularly susceptible to severe flooding.
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With today’s global warming of 1.3C, a warmer atmosphere is holding more moisture and leading to more extreme downpours, said Ben Clarke, one of the WWA research authors. “To limit the damage, we need to cut fossil fuel emissions and adapt to a warmer climate,” he added.
Piet Kenabatho, a professor of environmental science at the University of Botswana, said investment in better storm water management systems “is more than urgent if Botswana is to cope with the effects of climate change”.
While the researchers could not quantify the precise contribution of climate change to February’s flooding, they said historical weather observations show an increasing trend in five-day rainfall over the last few decades. Based on the data, they estimated that similar rainfall events are about 60% more intense today than in pre-industrial times, before humans started burning fossil fuels.
Clarke warned that climate models show the situation will become even more dangerous in the future.
To understand the broader implications for Botswana and its development, Tiro Nkemelang, of the Botswana Institute for Technology Research, called for more investment to study local weather and climate.
Water woes worsen
At the same time, in East Africa, more severe droughts are giving way to heavier floods, a back-to-back pattern that is becoming more pronounced, with three capital cities – Nairobi in Kenya, Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Kampala in Uganda – experiencing this so-called “climate whiplash”, according to research issued this week by international charity WaterAid.
The phenomenon, also affecting Cape Town, sees prolonged droughts that can cause water shortages, food insecurity and electricity disruptions interspersed with intense rainfall, overwhelming urban drainage and resulting in flash floods that displace communities, damage roads and spread waterborne diseases.
“The rapid shift between these extremes makes it difficult for people to prepare and recover, damaging economies and endangering lives,” the report said.
index of Addis Ababa shows an intensification of climatic extremes (both wet and dry). (Graphic: WaterAid)
index of Addis Ababa shows an intensification of climatic extremes (both wet and dry). (Graphic: WaterAid)
Sudan’s capital Khartoum and Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, meanwhile, are experiencing a flip in their prevailing climate trends from wet to dry extremes, with the opposite happening in the Nigerian city of Kano, the study found.
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The research comes at a pivotal time, when a sweep of global aid cuts “could leave basic human rights hanging in the balance”, warned Tim Wainwright, WaterAid UK’s Chief Executive. He said the devastating impacts of the shifts in extreme climate patterns across all continents are being most keenly felt in low-income countries, where the lack of water is not just a challenge, but a matter of life and death.
is, the stronger the trend in either wetting or drying respectively. (Graphic: WaterAid)
is, the stronger the trend in either wetting or drying respectively. (Graphic: WaterAid)
The research – which looked at the world’s 100 most populated cities – revealed that cities in Southern Asia are becoming overwhelmingly flood-prone and European cities are exhibiting significant drying trends, all of which can impact people’s clean water access and water security.
“Floods and droughts are stripping away people’s foundation of survival – water,” said Wainwright. “But with a reliable supply of clean water, communities can recover from disasters, stay healthy and be ready for whatever the future holds.”
The post Age of “climate whiplash” puts residents of Africa’s fast-growing cities in danger appeared first on Climate Home News.
Age of “climate whiplash” puts residents of Africa’s fast-growing cities in danger
The case shows that climate change is a fundamental human rights violation—and the victory of Bonaire, a Dutch territory, could open the door for similar lawsuits globally.
From our collaborating partner Living on Earth, public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by Paloma Beltran with Greenpeace Netherlands campaigner Eefje de Kroon.
A Tiny Caribbean Island Sued the Netherlands Over Climate Change, and Won
Climate Change
Greenpeace organisations to appeal USD $345 million court judgment in Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit
SYDNEY, Saturday 28 February 2026 — Greenpeace International and Greenpeace organisations in the US announce they will seek a new trial and, if necessary, appeal the decision with the North Dakota Supreme Court following a North Dakota District Court judgment today awarding Energy Transfer (ET) USD $345 million.
ET’s SLAPP suit remains a blatant attempt to silence free speech, erase Indigenous leadership of the Standing Rock movement, and punish solidarity with peaceful resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace International will also continue to seek damages for ET’s bullying lawsuits under EU anti-SLAPP legislation in the Netherlands.
Mads Christensen, Greenpeace International Executive Director said: “Energy Transfer’s attempts to silence us are failing. Greenpeace International will continue to resist intimidation tactics. We will not be silenced. We will only get louder, joining our voices to those of our allies all around the world against the corporate polluters and billionaire oligarchs who prioritise profits over people and the planet.
“With hard-won freedoms under threat and the climate crisis accelerating, the stakes of this legal fight couldn’t be higher. Through appeals in the US and Greenpeace International’s groundbreaking anti-SLAPP case in the Netherlands, we are exploring every option to hold Energy Transfer accountable for multiple abusive lawsuits and show all power-hungry bullies that their attacks will only result in a stronger people-powered movement.”
The Court’s final judgment today rejects some of the jury verdict delivered in March 2025, but still awards hundreds of millions of dollars to ET without a sound basis in law. The Greenpeace defendants will continue to press their arguments that the US Constitution does not allow liability here, that ET did not present evidence to support its claims, that the Court admitted inflammatory and irrelevant evidence at trial and excluded other evidence supporting the defense, and that the jury pool in Mandan could not be impartial.[1][2]
ET’s back-to-back lawsuits against Greenpeace International and the US organisations Greenpeace USA (Greenpeace Inc.) and Greenpeace Fund are clear-cut examples of SLAPPs — lawsuits attempting to bury nonprofits and activists in legal fees, push them towards bankruptcy and ultimately silence dissent.[3] Greenpeace International, which is based in the Netherlands, is pursuing justice in Europe, with a suit against ET under Dutch law and the European Union’s new anti-SLAPP directive, a landmark test of the new legislation which could help set a powerful precedent against corporate bullying.[4]
Kate Smolski, Program Director at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “This is part of a worrying trend globally: fossil fuel corporations are increasingly using litigation to attack and silence ordinary people and groups using the law to challenge their polluting operations — and we’re not immune to these tactics here in Australia.
“Rulings like this have a chilling effect on democracy and public interest litigation — we must unite against these silencing tactics as bad for Australians and bad for our democracy. Our movement is stronger than any corporate bully, and grows even stronger when under attack.”
Energy Transfer’s SLAPPs are part of a wave of abusive lawsuits filed by Big Oil companies like Shell, Total, and ENI against Greenpeace entities in recent years.[3] A couple of these cases have been successfully stopped in their tracks. This includes Greenpeace France successfully defeating TotalEnergies’ SLAPP on 28 March 2024, and Greenpeace UK and Greenpeace International forcing Shell to back down from its SLAPP on 10 December 2024.
-ENDS-
Images available in Greenpeace Media Library
Notes:
[1] The judgment entered by North Dakota District Court Judge Gion follows a jury verdict finding Greenpeace entities liable for more than US$660 million on March 19, 2025. Judge Gion subsequently threw out several items from the jury’s verdict, reducing the total damages to approximately US$345 million.
[2] Public statements from the independent Trial Monitoring Committee
[3] Energy Transfer’s first lawsuit was filed in federal court in 2017 under the RICO Act – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a US federal statute designed to prosecute mob activity. The case was dismissed in 2019, with the judge stating the evidence fell “far short” of what was needed to establish a RICO enterprise. The federal court did not decide on Energy Transfer’s claims based on state law, so Energy Transfer promptly filed a new case in a North Dakota state court with these and other state law claims.
[4] Greenpeace International sent a Notice of Liability to Energy Transfer on 23 July 2024, informing the pipeline giant of Greenpeace International’s intention to bring an anti-SLAPP lawsuit against the company in a Dutch Court. After Energy Transfer declined to accept liability on multiple occasions (September 2024, December 2024), Greenpeace International initiated the first test of the European Union’s anti-SLAPP Directive on 11 February 2025 by filing a lawsuit in Dutch court against Energy Transfer. The case was officially registered in the docket of the Court of Amsterdam on 2 July, 2025. Greenpeace International seeks to recover all damages and costs it has suffered as a result of Energy Transfers’s back-to-back, abusive lawsuits demanding hundreds of millions of dollars from Greenpeace International and the Greenpeace organisations in the US. The next hearing in the Court of Amsterdam is scheduled for 16 April, 2026.
Media contact:
Kate O’Callaghan on 0406 231 892 or kate.ocallaghan@greenpeace.org
The Trump administration’s relentless rollback of public health and environmental protections has allowed widespread toxic exposures to flourish, warn experts who helped implement safeguards now under assault.
In a new report that outlines a dozen high-risk pollutants given new life thanks to weakened, delayed or rescinded regulations, the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of hundreds of former Environmental Protection Agency staff, warns that the EPA under President Donald Trump has abandoned the agency’s core mission of protecting people and the environment from preventable toxic exposures.
Former EPA Staff Detail Expanding Pollution Risks Under Trump
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Greenpeace organisations to appeal USD $345 million court judgment in Energy Transfer’s intimidation lawsuit
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