This clearly written book reviews what science predicts regarding the impacts of global warming and what this means for different parts of Africa for water availability, food systems, forests and cities as well as for the likelihood of conflict over increasingly scarce resources such as water, food and land. The book discusses what different African countries might gain or lose from a ‘low-carbon economy’ in which the sale of carbon services forms an ever larger source of income, for example, from payment for avoided deforestation and biofuel production.

The author argues that African countries have found it difficult to get their voices heard at the global decision-making tables. She suggests that African countries’ ability to gain from the emerging carbon economy depends very much on making sure their perspectives and interests are built in from the start. This means getting centrally involved in negotiations to bring down the levels of future greenhouse gas emissions. The book ends by looking forward to the challenges climate change poses for the world as a whole, the scale of response required, and the practical and political hurdles faced.

This is a timely appraisal of the politics of climate change and development in the world's poorest continent. The book's value would increase many-fold if the next edition were to include a full section on the importance of conservation agriculture in climate change mitigation and adaptability for Africa and the world, as well as on what kinds of action African countries can themselves take to respond to climate change, regardless of what the global community decides to do.