Initiative amplifies African perspectives on climate change

African climate scientists and researchers face barriers and constraints, including limited funding, limited access to data and inadequate weather observation infrastructure. In response to these limitations, the recent African Climate Conference presented findings of the climate research for development initiative to increase African analysis and narratives of weather and climate change.

The initiative has been enhancing the contribution of African perspectives in the construction of the global climate change agenda.

The findings were put forward during the closing workshop of the Climate Research for Development in Africa research grant hosted at the end of June by the African Climate Policy Centre of the UN Economic Commission for Africa under the Climate Research for Development initiative (CR4D). It was themed ‘Climate Research for Development in Africa Research Grants Closing Workshop’.

Research of 21 African post-doctoral fellows was presented at the three-day hybrid workshop, which was organised to mobilise researchers on the continent around the unified climate change agenda.

During his opening remarks, Yosef Amha, who coordinates CR4D2, said: “We would like to beseech African governments, institutions, private sectors, individuals and philanthropists to look at the successes of the Climate Research for Development initiative and explore ways of supporting and financing African-led research into climate change development.”

Jean-Paul Adam, director for technology and natural resources at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, said that building a network of researchers across Africa, which allows for African ownership of the response to climate change, was paramount. It would enable the use of research in alignment with economic activities to build climate resilience.

“Climate change is arguably the greatest threat that faces our continent. Work done by the African Climate Policy Centre shows that African countries are spending on average 5% of GDP in response to climate disasters and, by 2030, some countries may be spending up to 15% of GDP,” Adam said.

It is, therefore, critical to inject new dynamism into finding African solutions for challenges on the continent and to invest financial and human resources towards research for development.

Cross-cutting research

The endeavour brought researchers in the climate science fields from across the continent together to focus on various cross-cutting aspects of climate change, including foundational climate science, climate-smart agricultural approaches, and climate change impacts on health, gender, and policy.

The research process, which took 18 months, was coordinated by the African Academy of Sciences, an organisation with diverse experience in managing scientific research projects in Africa.

Several innovative reports were presented at the workshop.

Dieudonne Alemagi from the University of Ghana focused on mechanisms to support developing countries’ efforts to reduce emissions by promoting the conservation and sustainable management of forests.

Stella Kabiri-Marial, from the Mukono Zonal Agricultural and Development Institute in Uganda, demonstrated green energy-driven technology to support on-site fertiliser production in Africa. The research report advocated for the use of environmentally-friendly plasma fertilisers to reduce carbon emissions.

A study conducted in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda by Eleni Yitbarek from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, explored the impact of crop diversification in combating food insecurity and nutritional deficiencies. The report outlined the importance of modernising agricultural sectors and the injection of science and technology as long-term solutions within agricultural systems.

Data for decision-making

Mithika Mwenda, who serves as chair of the CR4D’s Institutional Collaborative Platform, highlighted the significance of data for decision-making and the need to translate and integrate science into policy and products that may be used to solve climate-related problems in Africa.

He said that, beyond the workshop, there was a need to include research on climate justice, a key part of the African agenda on climate change.

“The first cohort of researchers is very important to us because we have been fighting to have African-driven, African-owned, African-informed, and people-centred research that tell the African story. This cohort comes at a most critical time of the international climate change discourse,” Mwenda said.

The Climate Research for Development research grant was established during the African Climate Conference 2013 in partnership with The African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology, the World Meteorological Organisation, and the Global Framework for Climate Services, after the realisation that African perspectives on climate change were under-represented.


This news report was updated on 3 July.