White Paper on Climate Services for Risk Reduction in West Africa is issued

The West African countries share a myriad of challenges, including environmental degradation, desertification, enhanced rainfall variability, unprecedented heat waves floodings and declining agricultural productivity. The accelerated climate change along with other global change stressors like population growth and rapid urbanization contributes to land degradation, chronic poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition.

Since 2018 JPI Climate has worked on a Flagship for Africa initiative to develop climate services and foster capacity building upon existing climate services centres and a number of transnational projects funded  under the ERA4CS programme on climate services.

In continuation of these collaborative efforts supported by the  previous SINCERE project Germany and France  have progressed towards a larger JPI Climate activity including a joint call on the topic of climate resilience and adaptation in Africa with a focus on  innovation in climate services and capacity building.

Four webinars were held in West Africa between  2023-2024 whose outcomes and conclusions are now provided in the presented White paper.  The White paper serves to frame the upcoming Stocktaking Conference in Banjul, The Gambia 5th-6th November 2024 which is the next milestone event for this joint activity.