AFRICA 2030 - Strenghtening the capacity of African countries to handle the challenges of a changing environment
It is widely known that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate change. As the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has shown, climate change is expected to have widespread impacts on African societies, and Africans’ interaction with the natural environment. There are also signs that the impacts of climate change are already being felt, not only in terms of increases in temperature but also in respect of agriculture (with lower crop yields) and the availability of water resources, among others. The links between climate change and the incidence of diseases – such as malaria – are also becoming clearer.
The above state of affairs illustrates the need for a better understanding of how climate change affects African countries, and for the identification of processes, methods and tools which may help African nations to adapt. There is also a perceived need to showcase successful examples of how to cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by climate change in Africa. In this context, African universities have a key role to play, as centres of research and teaching, and as key drivers of innovation.
It is against this background that the “5th Symposium on climate change adaptation in Africa” is being organised by the Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management” of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany), the International Climate Change Information and Research Programme (ICCIRP), Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), and the University of The Gambia, in cooperation with the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) and other partners.
Under the title ”THE CONTRIBUTION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES TO CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION", the event will discuss the means via which African universities may support the resilience capacity of African countries. It will serve the purpose of showcasing experiences from research, field projects and best practice in climate change adaptation in African universities, which may be replicated or upscaled in the continent. The Symposium will be a truly interdisciplinary event, organised in the framework of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, and Agenda 2036 of the African Union, mobilising African and non-African scholars undertaking research and/or executing climate change projects in the African continent.
