Flagship for Climate Risk Reduction in Africa

Since the joint invitation one year ago by German and French Ministries in charge of Higher Education and Research (BMBF and MESR) to JPI Climate and to African Union – European Union CCSE Partnership, significant progress had been made on the Flagship for Climate Risk Reduction in Africa, focused in West Africa.

To insure a strong involvement of African partners, four thematic webinars had been co-designed with local organisation committees in Togo, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ghana, supervised by a scientific committee from Europe and Africa, with the intent to:

1. Strengthen climate resilience in Africa in order to raise awareness about climate knowledge, identify key services for adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction
2. Examine potential areas for cooperation in research on climate risk management, resilience and adaptation in West Africa and thus defragment the programme landscape in favour of common goals and common impact of funding
3. Describe pathways and priorities for research, innovation and capacity development in the area of Climate Services for Risk Reduction that contribute to the new Innovation Agenda between African Union and European Union
4. Identify actionable and complementary steps to boost KIC via trilateral or multilateral joint calls or actions (South-South and South-North).

The webinars utilise a hybrid model with physical participation in West Africa, and remote for partners from Europe and beyond. This approach leverages the improved practices developed during the Covid crisis. Four webinars had been accomplished and synthesis report is under finalisation. The last two webinars with great success were organised this year:

Climate impacts and resilience under present and future scenario, see University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal, February 8th 2024 (170 in-person, 200 on-line). Main outcomes include:

• Improving hydro, agricultural, climate modelling and model evaluation to allow impact or risk assessment studies
• Energy is a key for development growth but there is a gap in the future change of energy demand
• Building climate resilient development pathway in the agricultural sectors
• Addressing challenges for sustainable African cities
• Rural development pathway and land degradation, migration
• Understand compound extreme events and cascading risks and how mitigate the adverse effects (climate services to improve decision and planning tools),
• Need to involve all stakeholders and communication of scientific results and uncertainties and how to build on AI or multiple data of different sources
• Training and capacity building for communities and policy makers

Climate-smart agriculture and sustainable landscapes, see Kwame Nkruma University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, May 15th 2024.

The three plenary keynotes covered the following topics: 

• Importance of sustainable land use management: Explaining the importance of sustainable land use management, highlighting how it can help mitigate and adapt to climate change while preserving ecosystems and biodiversity, in both coastal, urban or rural areas.
• Principles of climate-smart agriculture: Present the fundamental principles of climate-smart agriculture, involving (agro)forestry and livestock, including adaptation, mitigation and resilience strategies. Emphasize the importance of balancing food security, soil restoration and environmental sustainability.
• Policy and regulatory frameworks: Analyze existing policies and regulations related to climate-smart agriculture and land-use management in African countries. Identify gaps and potential areas for improvement.