- 1Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, FR
- 2West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use, BF
- 3Institut de la Recherche pour le Développement, FR
- 4Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt - PT, DE
- 5Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, DE
- 6Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
- 7Climate Chance association, FR
- 8Centre d'Excellence Africain sur le Changement Climatique, la Biodiversité et Agriculture Durable, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, CI
- 9Université Cheikh Anta Diop, SN
- 10Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, GH
- 11University of Lomé, BJ
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.
To address these challenges, the Climate Services for Risk Reduction in Africa (CS4RRA) was initiated by France and Germany through their ministries of higher education and research (MESR and BMBF respectively), with West African regional and national institutions such as ACMAD, AGRHYMET/CILSS, WASCAL, African Centres of Excellence, Universities, National Governmental Services in West Africa with the aim to enhance climate resilience through Knowledge, Innovation, and Capacity Building (KIC). This initiative is built on the achievements of previous EU and AU programmes (H2020, JPI Climate/SINCERE, Copernicus CCS, ERA4CS, Climate-KIC, etc.). Four hybrid webinars (in-person and online), rooted in West African countries, were held to identify gaps and critical issues in climate services for risk reduction in Africa.
To capitalize on such Webinars Forum, CS4RRA culminated in an international Stocktaking Conference for West Africa, on 5 - 6 November 2024. Building on conclusions and recommendations from the webinars and aiming to address gaps in knowledge, innovation, and capacity development, this conference convened policymakers and representatives of governments, academia, donors, international agencies, and various stakeholders of the climate service value chain together in Africa. The main objective was to agree on the identified necessary research and innovation efforts and to address the corresponding funding gaps. This conference examined potential areas for multilateral cooperation to support research and innovation on climate services for risk management, resilience, and adaptation in West Africa and beyond.
How to cite: Monfray, P., Ogunjobi, K., Sanfo, S., Roehrig, J., Fink, A., Kane, C., Sama, M., Sultan, B., Agboka, K., Alabi, T. A., Cherif, M., Gaye, A. T., Amponsah, W., and Dindane, A.: Climate Services for Risk Reduction in Africa (CS4RRA): a multilateral initiative between Europe and Africa, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-20205, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-20205, 2025.
