Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.

The highlights this week: African countries respond to climate change-driven wildfires, drought, and flooding; Gabon ends a 19-year fishing agreement with the European Union, and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema secures a second five-year term.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.

The highlights this week: African countries respond to climate change-driven wildfires, drought, and flooding; Gabon ends a 19-year fishing agreement with the European Union, and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema secures a second five-year term.

In recent weeks, deadly wildfires have ravaged forests across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, while seasonal floods have displaced thousands of people across West Africa. These climate extremes compound a severe food crisis that has been growing over the past year, driven by prolonged droughts and erratic weather patterns that heavily damaged regional crop yields.

In Nigeria, where roads have been submerged in the deluge, experts have warned that flooding has changed from being a seasonal challenge into a persistent problem worsened by climate change and poor city planning.

In the capital of Abuja, politicians and environmental experts have criticized the federal government for allowing the construction of commercial and residential buildings on green belts that could have absorbed some of the floodwater. Critics also argue that the government has failed to address long-standing waste and drainage issues.

Last month, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama held an emergency meeting after June floods killed at least 13 people and displaced some 48,000 others. Mahama also ordered the demolition of all buildings obstructing waterways around the capital, Accra.

In Ivory Coast, the government has announced that it plans to move a total of 5,000 people from flood risk zones in the capital of Abidjan after more than 50 people were killed in floods in recent months. Rapid urban growth has led to the expansion of vulnerable informal homes in areas prone to floods and landslides. Authorities have already begun demolishing informal settlements, but some evicted residents have said that they have nowhere else to go.

Meanwhile, a rare “super” El Niño climate pattern threatens to bring severe drought to nations in the Sahel and southern Africa, as well as flooding to eastern Africa, starting around September. El Niño is forecast to cost African nations between $10 billion and $20 billion in economic losses and could trigger mass migration, the African Development Bank has warned.

“El Niño is not just on........

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