Floods and droughts represent the most severe and recurring climate-related hazards in the Sahel, with profound implications for food security, livelihoods, and humanitarian needs. Over the past 25 years, more than 81 million people across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger have been affected by these climate extremes. These risks are compounded by accelerated land degradation, rapid population growth, and increasing climate variability, all of which threaten agricultural production systems and pastoral livelihoods in an already fragile region. To address these challenges, the World Food Programme (WFP) has been implementing Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) activities as part of its broader resilience programme in the Sahel. These interventions focus on land rehabilitation, soil and water conservation, flood protection, irrigation, agroforestry, and community water infrastructures.

While the positive impacts of these interventions have been well documented, there is a growing need for a quantitative assessment of how they reduce long-term climate-related damage and future humanitarian needs under projected climate change. The RISCA project, implemented by United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), addresses this need by applying the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) framework in combination with the open-source CLIMADA modelling platform. The study evaluates 237 selected FFA sites across the five Sahel countries. It quantifies the current and future impact of floods and droughts on key exposed assets, including croplands, rangelands, livestock, and people. Further, the project conducts a cost-benefit analysis of selected FFA interventions, including flood protection infrastructure, forestry/tree plantation, and soil and water conservation measures, identifying where resilience investments yield high economic and humanitarian benefits under a changing climate.

The findings of this study will provide policymakers, development partners, and climate finance stakeholders with robust, evidence-based insights into the long-term benefit of resilience investments in the Sahel. By quantifying avoided losses, reduced humanitarian needs, and cost-effectiveness under future climate scenarios, the analysis supports more informed strategic planning and investment decisions. The results will help prioritize adaptation measures that deliver the highest resilience returns across different contexts and intervention types. Ultimately, the study contributes to scaling effective, climate-resilient approaches that strengthen livelihoods and food security in highly climate-vulnerable regions.