SDG6 is alarmingly off-track, as highlighted in the recent status report on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) published by UN-Water. It has been recognised at high political level that Capacity Development is one of the main factors that will produce an “acceleration” in achieving SDG6. However, a deeper understanding is lacking on what is needed to have more impactful capacity development programmes particularly in relation to developing the capacity of national government and related institutions, in developing countries. These institutions support real and substantial changes across scales, and strengthening their capacity will contribute to address both existing and emerging issues in a rapidly changing world requiring quick adaptation of capacities in institutions.
The main objective of this contribution is to provide examples of instruments that are currently being developed to support organisations, especially in low and middle-income countries, to develop capacities to accelerate implementation of water related SDGs. In particular, to offer up to date instruments to deliver capacity development products and services to carry out institutional changes that will deliver ultimately impact to SDG6 achievement.
These examples include, but are not limited to, the SDG6 capacity development initiative (UNESCO, UN-DESA, UN-Water, IHE Delft), the Global Water Education Network (UNESCO, IHE Delft, Cap-Net and SIWI), and the Water and Development Partnership Programme (IHE Delft with a broad number of low and middle-income countries and in particular African partners), which are three of the main voluntary commitments related to Capacity Development within the Water Action Agenda resulting from the UN 2023 Water Conference.
The contribution will present ongoing activities in support of capacity development taking place within UN political processes, and beyond, with a special emphasis on Africa. In this contribution we will take a deeper look at typical capacity development challenges, illustrated by selected examples.
Identified challenges address the following questions:
- What factors create impact in capacity development efforts to accelerate progress towards achieving SDG6?
- What capacity development activities have the greatest impact?
- What kind of learning alliances and partnerships, e.g., south-south collaboration, can catalyse capacity development interventions at regional, country level and local levels?
- What are the investment gaps and opportunities in catering to the capacity development needs in low and middle-income countries?
The outcome of the contribution could be used to contribute to the capacity development accelerator of the SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework to support the SDG6 Capacity Development Initiative and other complementary initiatives like the Global Water Education Network.
How to cite: Werner, M., Casale, G., Popescu, I., and Kemerink, J.: Capacity Development to support transformation and contribute to achieving SDG6, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-9543, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9543, 2025.
The West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is an Intergovernmental Institution established since 2012 to support the capacity development of youth in Climate Change for the West African countries members through the support of the German Federal Minister of education and research (BMBF). Through the German cooperation and main financial with West African countries contribution in 2012, four Master and six PhD relevant programs were established respectively in Climate change & Land use (FUTMINNA, Nigeria), Climate Change & Human Security (UL, Togo), Climate Change & Education (UTG, The Gambia), Climate Change & Energy (UAM Niger) and Climate Change & Water Resources (UAC, Benin), Climate Change Economics (UCAD, Dakar, Senegal), Climate Change & Land Use (KNUST, Ghana), West African Climate System (FUTA, Nigeria), Climate change & Biodiversity (UFHB, Côte d’Ivoire), Climate Change & Agriculture (IPR/IFRA, Mali). The outcome was the transformation of 252 students as climate experts for West Africa. After successful implementation of the curriculum, the above master’s programs were upgraded in PhD to implement the 4th batch with the six other PhD Programs. The Master of Climate Change and Human Security was replaced by a PhD program in Disaster Risk Management and the master in Climate Change and Land use was replace by the PhD in Climate Change & Human Habitat. The fourth batch was implemented with 10 PhD program and two new Master program established in climate Change & Marines Science (UTA of Mindelo, Cabo Verde and Informatica and Climate Change (UJKZ, Burkina Faso). The fifth is currently running with the 11 countries across 12 Universities described above. Then the sixth batch recruitment will be effective with the new Program established in Guinea on Climate Change, Mining Environment and Forestry (UGAN, Conakry, Guinea). The graduation of more than 430 PhD and master’s holders working mainly in high education, research and international institution is a positive response to climate change. In line with its mission to improve the livelihood of communities, WASCAL with the support of BMBF has established master’s programs in four countries in Energy and green hydrogen to support African countries to foster the use of clean energy and contribute to reduce carbon footprint for a better energy transition. In addition to the climate experts, 59 master holders have been graduated through 6 relevant curricula in the followings tracks: Photovoltaic & System Analysis and Green Hydrogen in Niger, Biofuels, Bioenergy and Green Hydrogen in Togo, Economy, Infrastructure and Green Hydrogen Production in Senegal and Technology of green Hydrogen production, Georesources & green hydrogen Production. More than 700 publications, 150 policy brief and other relevant deliverables such as books chapter were produced. The collaboration was done with more than 35 lecturers, supervisors as well as several institutions across Germany and elsewhere. WASCAL and its partners from Germany are working to develop technologies and conduct activities that can support Africa countries resilience for better livelihood of communities.
How to cite: Koné, D.: Training of Climate and Energy experts for West Africa to support West Africa communities’ resilience though the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13951, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13951, 2025.
The evidence base on the current status of biodiversity and the interlinked features of the ecosystem that define ecosystem integrity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is inadequate. Even less information exists on how the ecosystem responds to the changing climate and other pressures. That evidence deficit is particularly large for the aquatic ecosystems of the DRC, which are often exploited as a protein source for local communities. These shortcomings can be addressed through environmental monitoring and assessment (EMA). Established methods and promising developments (e.g. remote sensing, genomics and citizen science) can be used to build an evidence base that enjoys legitimacy as a basis for governance in the eyes of a broad range of stakeholders. To do so requires national capacity to perform EMA and utilize the results in governance. A new capacity building project “Improving biodiversity governance and sustainable livelihoods with capacities for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment In Democratic Republic of Congo” aims to assist the DRC in achieving its Agenda 2030 ambitions to support sustainable livelihood activities that preserve the integrity and functionality of ecosystems and biodiversity amid climate changes. This initially employs environmental monitoring and assessment (EMA) to build the scientific evidence base encompassing biodiversity, ecosystem integrity, and social and economic dynamics crucial for ensuring continued ecosystem functionality while improving human welfare. Governance must then leverage the EMA evidence base to support national institutions with policy implementation and international commitments. To enhance the prospects for success, the emphasis of this project will be on supporting nature based solutions. The two-year inception phase of the project has three objectives that target specific outputs and long-term outcomes (Table 1):
- Evidence: Create a socio-ecological evidence base on biodiversity in the Lake Tumba Landscape of Equateur Province to support local governance of freshwater and marine resources in the face of climate change and resource exploitation.
- Capacities: Plan for establishing national EMA capacity with appropriate educational programs.
- Coordination: Explore the possibilities for sharing EMA evidence and using it meet local, regional and international needs for evidence- based governance of aquatic ecosystems.
The project is currently in a two-year inception phase in cooperation with the Mabali Research Station managed by the Centre de Recherche en Ecologie et Foresterie (CREF). The collection of biodiversity data to support the strategic plan of the research station will be developed and implemented in consultation with local and regional stakeholders.
How to cite: Bishop, K., Bila-Isia, I., Powell, N., and Ewango, C.: Improving biodiversity governance and sustainable livelihoods with capacities for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment In Democratic Republic of Congo , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13246, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13246, 2025.
In September 2019, a partnership consortium[1] joined efforts to launch the One Planet Fellowship. This initiative, announced at the inaugural One Planet Summit in Paris, December 2017, was the coalition on the mobilization of researchers and young people to work for the climate. The One Planet Fellowship, a career development program, aims to build a robust pipeline of scientists equipped to lead climate change research in Africa, establishing an intergenerational network of scientists across Africa and Europe to foster research collaborations and bringing gender equality at the centre of the climate change and agrifood systems research.
Building on the summary points on adaptation from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report chapter on Africa, it was evident that applied research is essential to solve the challenges of adaptation of agriculture and food systems in Africa. Many of the basic underpinning aspects of the required research are available – what is now needed is the in-depth analysis, and deployment of resulting strategies and practice across the African continent. This requires a strong commitment of African scientists at different levels of career development and collaboration with non-African researchers, particularly from Europe as its nearest continental neighbour through its high level educational and research institutions.
It is thus important to invest in building the capacity of the next generation of African scientists so that they can be well-connected to the world as they find science-based solutions that are anchored in their local realities. To achieve this, the One Planet Fellowship targeted emerging, mid-career and seasoned scientists working in Africa and Europe to accelerate the career development process by:
- Strengthening the leadership, scientific and mentoring skills of emerging agriculture-climate scientists from both continents and providing an opportunity to African scientists to share their context-specific knowledge and mentor emerging scientists from Europe and for European scientists to gain valuable exposure to the context within which scientific research is conducted on the African continent.
- Incentivizing intra-continental research collaborations through the establishment of diverse research groups where Laureates identify, initiate, and implement joint projects of various forms including joint publishing, resource mobilization, and media engagement among others.
- Enhancing the visibility of the One Planet Laureates through diverse opportunities to amplify African voices, access and contribute to national, regional and global conversations, storytelling, and media engagement.
Following the five-year of activity implementation in Africa and Europe, the One Planet Fellowship has mobilized over 400 scientists across Africa and Europe and facilitated their involvement in a range of interventions, including three-tiered mentoring programs, leadership, science and negotiation training series, Advanced Science Training (AST), science-policy linkages via learning visits, facilitating scientific networking and exchange between African and European scientists.
[1] The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the BNP Paribas Foundation, the Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the European Union provided financial support for the One Planet Fellowship implementation jointly coordinated by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) based in Nairobi, Kenya and Agropolis Fondation based in Montpellier, France.
How to cite: Mbo’o-Tchouawou, M., Odongo, D., and Okoth, S.: Addressing the Multidimensional Impacts of Climate Change through Effective Capacity Development, Research Leadership, Strategic Networking, and Partnerships – The case of the One Planet Fellowship, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-21793, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-21793, 2025.
Landscape management, agricultural sciences and geoinformatics are inseparable nowadays, and this should also be reflected in teaching. For example, green areas provide an important biodiversity, are positively associated with mental well-being and play a critical role in mitigating the impacts of climate change by absorbing carbon dioxide, reducing heat islands in urban areas, and providing shade and cooling. However, climate change is also affecting green areas.
On the other hand, geoinformatics offers powerful tools for assessing, monitoring and sustainable planning for all types of landscapes such as urban, rural and natural areas, and deserts. It relates to all data with a spatial reference with the focus on data acquisition, management, analysis, visualization and dissemination. Geographic information systems and remote sensing (aerial photography, satellite and radar images) play a major role for the use of geoinformatics in the geosciences, such as geography, geology, agricultural sciences, and ecology.
Prior to this, the Tunisian GEOMAG project was able to identify a lack of education in geomatics in the center of Tunisia, the Sahel region, which includes the governorates of Sousse, Mahdia, Monastir and Kairouan. This project included in particular an evaluation phase consisting of a self-assessment of 11 Tunisian universities (i.e. 51 “institutional” components) and a national survey of 66 public or private companies active in the geomatics sector.
To address this proven problem, an intensive exchange has been taking place between the Institut supèrieur agronomique de Chott Mariem (ISA CM ) in Tunisia and the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences (HSNB). So far, the Tunisian students have attended the HSNB's Master's program “Geomatics” with a focus on spatial data analysis, landscape and risk management and remote sensing. The curricula are strongly oriented towards the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), open data and open standards. Thanks to the high degree of interdisciplinarity, graduates are offered excellent and exciting career opportunities.
The exchange is guaranteed by a contract between the two universities and is supported by the Erasmus program of the European Union. Various theses have been successfully completed to date. The main objectives of these efforts are:
- Promoting an interdisciplinary education that brings together the perspectives and skills of different disciplines;
- Integrating geospatial information technologies into land use planning;
- Fostering innovation and research and encouraging students to explore new approaches;
- Promote international cooperation between universities and organizations, including opportunities for students to study and work with colleagues from different countries.
These objectives reflect the European Commission's priorities for interdisciplinary training, the integration of geoinformation technologies, innovation and research, and international cooperation in the field of territorial planning, agricultural sciences and in the European Green Deal strategy. In the future, these activities are to be expanded and a double Master's degree is to be targeted.
The existing and planned activities in the field of higher education can be seen as a pilot project that can be extended to countries such as Morocco, with which there is also very close cooperation, or even beyond.
How to cite: Löwner, R. and Khebour Allouche, F.: The fusion of agricultural sciences and geoinformatics in teaching in Northwestern Africa, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13184, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13184, 2025.
With the mission to build knowledge for a sustainable world, the United Nations University in Bonn (UNU Bonn) (including the Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the Vice-Rectorate in Europe (UNU-VIE)) is heavily involved in capacity development, especially in Africa, where the effects of climate change and associated extremes are felt disproportionately. UNU Bonn integrates its cutting-edge research on risk, adaptation and transformation into its capacity development activities in collaboration with universities in different countries of Africa, for example through the WASCAL Graduate Studies Programs in West Africa, the Pan African University, and the Disaster Management Training and Education Center in South Africa. In addition, UNU Bonn implements capacity building components in direct relation to and as part of the implementation of innovative research projects.
Against this background and in direct response to the aim of this session, UNU Bonn can provide an overview of the most recent and relevant capacity building initiatives in the context of climate change in Africa. Examples are contributions from UNU Bonn to university curricula in the context of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, Training of Trainers initiatives, e.g. on "transboundary water management" in Togo and Benin, capacity building initiatives in the field "GIS and Remote Sensing for Impact-Based Early Warning", or training programs for young professionals, accelerating gender-just energy transition. In addition, UNU Bonn is closely working with regional organizations, such as the African Montane Unit (ARU) and co-organizing the Southern African Mountain Conference series (SAMC) with the aim to bring together science, policy and practitioners and build capacities on water management issues in the context of climate risks in different southern African mountain regions. UNU Bonn, furthermore, promotes innovation around “Internet of Things” (IoT) in agricultural production.
We can also bring insights into new projects, which build the basis for future capacity building initiatives, for example in the field of multi-goal-oriented management of ecosystems to address climate change, disaster risk, biodiversity loss, and land degradation simultaneously through targeted and strategic management of e.g. wetlands or forests.
With these initiatives, UNU Bonn builds and fosters African capacities of tomorrow’s decision-makers, enabling them to deal with climate change impacts – something the European-African Network for Capacity Development in Climate Change Adaptation Research in Africa can learn from and build on.
How to cite: Janzen, S., Stamatogiannakis, A., Cheo, E., Hagenlocher, M., Pfeiffer, S., Schneiderbauer, S., Szarzynski, J., Tambo, E., and Walz, Y.: Climate change capacity building in Africa: initiatives at the United Nations University Bonn, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-19310, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19310, 2025.
While it is generally well understood that climate change poses significant risks to economic stability and well-being, the gendered dimensions of its effects is still a nuanced area of research, especially in developing regions. Considering research within the African context, for example, women's businesses make wide-ranging contributions to family welfare, key value chains, and the provision of goods and services that support adaptation to climate change, yet they face a "triple differential vulnerability" due to heightened exposure to climate risks, frontline management of these risks, and barriers such as limited access to land and finance.
Noting these differential impacts, improved access to and use of credible climate information can be crucial for adaptation and disaster risk reduction efforts. However, it is imperative to better understand if and to what extent there may be differences in gender dynamics in climate information awareness and uptake. This study explores this knowledge gap through an analysis of 200 survey responses as well as follow-up semi-structured interviews by women and men entrepreneurs in South Africa (conducted November 2024-February 2025). We focus on understanding how climate events have affected businesses, the extent of climate information use to navigate adaptation and business decision-making, as well as barrier and enabling factors that may shape gender differences in the ability to interpret and use climate information. Such findings can underscore potential gendered differences in the understanding of and subsequent demand for climate information, which can in turn assist in closing knowledge gaps on gender equity in the access to and use of climate services. This study also includes a review of the status of gender mainstreaming in climate information production and dissemination, and, through collaborations with other regional partners and research projects, aims to scale findings to produce tailored insights for climate service designers across eastern and southern Africa towards the encouragement of broad capacity development and strengthening.
How to cite: Dookie, D. S. and Vincent, K.: Understanding gender dimensions in climate information awareness and uptake by entrepreneurs in South Africa, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13908, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13908, 2025.
Climate change adaptation is the process of responding and adjusting to actual and expected climate and its effects to reduce risk, loss, and damage, ensuring the right to survive, continue livelihoods, and sustain dignified lives. Adaptation effectiveness decreases with increasing warming, hence the need for impactful projects that entail flexible, robust, and inclusive decision-making to integrate climate action into broader development efforts. From current deficiencies of adaptation projects, we intend to highlight how innovative practices emerging from both research and practice can span cross sectoral interest improved environmental co-benefits.
The adequate implementation of adaptations projects necessitates a clear understanding of development realities: weak female labor force participation, rural distress, non-farm aspirations, informal economy. At the upper lever, it is key to have a genuine uptake of legal instruments, national policies, subnational programs and schemes. Rather than focusing on a range of sectors, this presentation focuses process-based adaptation outcomes. In particular the focus on multi-functional system concept that enhances livelihoods. How to twin knowledge creation with public and private partnerships to reduce the implementation gap for adaptation through a closer connection of science to the application.
How to cite: Mbow, C.: Managing scientific information to reduce implementation gaps in adaptation projects, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-21802, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-21802, 2025.
Collaboration on Capacity Development in Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation in Africa could provide a beneficial engagement between Europe and Africa. Knowledge exchange could facilitate the transfer of knowledge, technology, and expertise in climate change impact assessment and adaptation strategies while capacity Building will strengthen local skills and institutional frameworks in Africa to address climate-related challenges effectively. A joint research and innovation initiative between Europe and Africa can promote collaborative research projects focused on sustainable solutions tailored to African contexts. Finally, policy alignment between the two regions will align efforts with global frameworks such as the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2063. This paper outlines the key objectives of such a collaboration and key focus areas for strengthening the collaboration and concludes with the implementation steps that will be required.
How to cite: Sa’id S., R.: Outlook for an European-African Collaboration for Climate Change and Adaptation Strategies , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-196, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-196, 2025.
Finding practical, workable and cost-efficient solutions to the problems posed by climate change is a global priority. Most developing countries still fail to adapt to the impacts of climate variability and change and adequately transform their potential to implement and increase their climate protection ambitions. This often is a result of a lack of human and institutional skills and know-how to integrate ambitious climate change adaptation strategies and policy into comprehensive development planning. Overcoming capacity constraints is a core challenge in developing countries. The more capacity countries have, the better they are equipped to face climate change and build resilience.
The Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management (FTZ NK)” has a several decades experience in supporting fundamental and applied research on climate issues and contributing to knowledge and technology transfer at the national and international levels. Among the Centre’s projects and initiatives that contribute to capacity development in climate change impacts and adaptation in Africa are:
The International Climate Change Information and Research Programme (ICCIRP) that has been created to address the problems inherent to the communication of climate change and to undertake a set of information, communication, education and awareness-raising initiatives which will allow it to be better understood.
World PhD Students Climate Change Network that has been created to support doctoral students in providing a platform for their interaction, collaboration, exchange with other interdisciplinary groups, international PhD students and experts from outside of their organizations
Project “Green Garden/Jardins adaptés au climat (Towards Climate Resilient Farming/Des jardins partagés et d'adaptation aux changements climatiques)”, jointly funded by the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemienschaft (DFG) brings together 200 vulnerable farmers from seven enterprises in Benin, Morocco, and Canada and 20 researchers representing an interdisciplinary consortium of academic partners from Canada, Germany, Morocco, and Benin to support the design and adoption of successful climate change adaptation practices in agriculture and agroforestry in collaboration with vulnerable groups.
Project “RECC-LUM (Feasibility Study on Climate Change, Land Use Management, and Renewable Energy in The Gambia)” funded by BMBF and supported by The Gambia Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science, and Technology (MoHERST) focuses on sustainable land management practices within the Gambian agricultural landscape and the role played by using renewable energy in the process. it will also develop a curriculum of Master of Science (MSc) program focused on renewable energy, climate change, and land use management for The University of The Gambia (UTG).
How to cite: Kovaleva, M. and Wolf, F.: Experience of the Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management (FTZ NK)” at HAW Hamburg in supporting European-African collaboration on climate change adaptation capacity development , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15764, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15764, 2025.
How water changes interplay with climate change around the global land area is essential for societal water security and major water-related sustainability challenges, but still largely unknown over the global land area, particularly across the African continent that still largely lacks relevant monitoring data. Based on several comparative global datasets and with focus on the terrestrial water system over Africa, we have deciphered the change relationships in space and time between the landscape water fluxes and storages and the associated temperature and precipitation conditions during 1980-2010 in numerous non-overlapping hydrological catchments. We find that widely used climate reanalysis data imply distinctly unrealistic 30-year drying over Africa and the whole southern hemisphere, with physically unreasonable water flux and storage changes and sensitivities to warming. Robustly across the datasets, the landscape water sensitivities to the climatic changes also emerge as differing between space and time, questioning the use of space-for-time substitution for water changes on land. The complexities of terrestrial water system change are essential to recognize for getting water security planning and strategies right, in particular across the relatively data-poor African continent.
How to cite: Destouni, G. and Zarei, M.: Getting water security right across Africa: recognising major dataset biases and space-time change divergence, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-19247, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19247, 2025.
The Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data (FRIEND-Water) is the oldest UNESCO Flagship Initiative within the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP). Active since 1985, it seeks to facilitate, promote and foster collaborations across borders between scientists (hydrologists and related disciplines) to conduct studies on shared river basins. The programme has evolved over time to focus on four key themes relating to (i) data collection and sharing, (ii) the impacts of global change on hydrological regimes and extremes, (iii) water-society interactions and equitable water management and (iv) interdisciplinary educational resources and programmes. Involving researchers from over 150 countries, FRIEND-Water is currently structured into six regional groups around the world of which four focus on Europe-African collaboration: Europe, the Mediterranean, West and Central Africa, Southern and Eastern Africa. Collaborations include joint research activities, joint supervision of young researchers (PhD and postdoc), exchange visits and scientific events. In partnership with initiatives such as CEH Robin, WMO HydroSOS, IHP-WINS and GRDC, activities notably focus on increasing the collection and sharing of hydroclimatic data across FRIEND-Water regions. Hydrometry training, data rescue, and ongoing collection of hydrological data from ground observation networks are actively supported. Researchers explore large-scale climate and hydrological regime trends as well as the local impacts of future climate projections from CMIP5/CMIP6 models. Hydrological modelling helps forecast the amplitude and frequency of extreme events (floods, agricultural droughts and compound extremes) and support disaster risk reduction and early warning systems. Working on urban and rural areas, research also seeks to define adequate hydrological norms (accounting for climate non-stationarity) and guide the design of water infrastructure, as well as water management and allocation policies. Activities over the past decade have notably led to the joint EU-African organization of over 30 workshops and trainings on topics including early warning systems, hydrological modelling, hydrometry, as well as four conferences on the Hydrology of African Large River basins. Going into UNESCO IHP-IX, the FRIEND-Water programme has been restructured and is now actively supported by the UNESCO Category II Centre ICIREWARD in Montpellier, leading to increased academic collaboration and capacity building opportunities between Europe and Africa.
How to cite: Ogilvie, A., Dieppois, B., Amoussou, E., Amrouni, O., Tanner, J., Olusola, A., Gwapedza, D., and Alexander, A.: The UNESCO IHP FRIEND-Water programme: a global network for hydroclimatic change research and education , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-6388, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-6388, 2025.
The NetCDA project takes a long-term approach to strengthening and better networking academic education on climate change adaptation strategies in Africa. A sustainable implementation of this project will be achieved in three steps: (i) In the short term, PhD students of graduate schools of the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) will be supported and co-supervised. (ii) In the medium term, the German network of WASCAL graduate schools will be strengthened and (iii) in the long term, an academic network will be initiated that brings together climate change researchers from Europe and Africa who are active in education. The first year of project implementation has successfully past, thus the current status and taken steps as well as the further ideas will be presented. Important for the future success of the project will specifically be, to find the right measures to move from a West Africa focused approach to a more general approach to cover the whole continent.
How to cite: Otte, I., Schell, L., Thiel, M., and Koné, D.: European Academic Network for Capacity Development in Climate Change Adaptations in Africa, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-12524, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-12524, 2025.
The West- and Southern African Science Service Centers on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL and SASSCAL) have been established as part of the internationalization strategy of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Both Science Service Centers have a regional focus and work with several member countries (WASCAL: 12 member countries, SASSCAL: 6 member countries). The International Centre for Water Resources and Global Change in Koblenz, Germany, is the partner institution of the SASSCAL PhD Programme on Integrated Water Resources Management hosted at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and of the WASCAL PhD Programme on Climate Change and Water Resources hosted at the University of Abomey-Calavi in the Republic of Benin.
This presentation will showcase the relevance and the structure of these programmes and the process of establishing an impactful North-South partnership. Furthermore, both highlights and challenges will be discussed.
How to cite: Bharati, L., van Dongen-Köster, R., Adounkpé, J., Hashweh, L., and Awofolu, O.: Climate change and water resources capacity development in Africa under the SASSCAL and WASCAL doctoral programmes, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-3023, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-3023, 2025.
The Long-Term Euro-African Partnership on Renewable Energy (LEAP-RE) seeks to create a long-term collaboration framework of African and European stakeholders in a quadruple helix approach: government (programme owners and funding agencies), research and academia, private sector, and civil society. The aim is to reduce fragmentation by aligning existing bilateral and multilateral frameworks. LEAP-RE establishes and jointly implements research, innovation, and capacity- building activitie in renewable energies, notably: (i) Planning and modelling future sustainable energy systems; (ii) Including society as an important stakeholder ; (iii) Market, pricing and business models for future sustainable energy systems; and (iv) Strengthening basic research and technology development. The approach encourages the development of scenarios that are appropriate to local contexts and can be further utilised to support policy makers.
The partnership launched in 2020 will take a decisive step forward in 2025, based in particular on the following achievements:
- The establishment of a bi-continental co-funding mechanism: Two calls for projects have been launched in 2021 and 2022, with 220+ beneficiary organisations in over 30 countries in Europe and Africa.. The third call has been launched on 13th January 2025 under the guidance of the French National Research Agency (ANR).
- A Strategic assessment for growth potential thanks to an ongoing analysis of Go to Market potential: LEAP-RE particularly explores strategies for scaling renewable energy innovations through market uptake of renewable energy technologies (development and commercialization, policy, building partnerships for market entry). One of the projects funded by LEAP-RE is RE4AFAGRI, led by IIASA. This project aims at demonstrating digital decision-support solutions based on technological, economic, and business model innovation to i) sustainable cropland irrigation and community-wide renewable electricity access, ii) increased agricultural productivity, local crop processing and cold storage, iii) agriculture as leverage for reduction of poverty and inequality, iv) agriculture as leverage for energy access financing. This project will be invited and will illustrate the importance of a bi-continental programme like LEAP-RE for scaling up and identifying market opportunities.
- Institutional Teaming & Twinning capacities: This involves co-designing research agendas and decision-making processes. The Partnership is investigating new collaborative patterns which instruments are based on formal agreements between African and European institutions to promote long-term collaboration (twinning), and an emergent process where individuals and groups with multidisciplinary skills collaborate (teaming). This co-construction is key to pave the way for an inclusive partnership in critical challenges such as green energy and climate change with access to infrastructure, technology, and research laboratories.
- Trainings & Capacity-building: develop quality protocol for training in sustainable energy, through the continuation of organizing Renewable Energy Schools (RESchools), MOOCs, and technical training sessions to foster bi-continental exchange. Three RESchools have been organized since 2020 and have gathered 150+ participants.
Thus, LEAP-RE could be instrumental with a view to implementing ambitious African strategies (Africa 2063, African Continental Master Plan) and European strategies (Partnership on Climate Change and Sustainable Energy (CCSE) as part of the AU-EU HLPD on Science Technology and Innovation, AU/EU Innovation Agenda on Green Transition) on sustainable energy, energy access and climate change mitigation.
How to cite: Lévêque, L. and Falchetta, G.: LEAP-RE: an example of coordination, resource mobilisation and capacity building in R&I between Europe and Africa, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-19464, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19464, 2025.
Ghana’s vulnerability to climate change is amplified by lack of capacity among different agencies to undertake and coordinate adaptive measures informed by an effective climate services provision. Climate services provide tailored information to support climate adaptation at the local level. One common form of climate service is the provision of downscaled climate projections, bias adjusted using local observations and tailor-made to meet local society needs based on extensive stakeholder engagement. A well-established example of such services already exist in Denmark’s Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) through the Danish Climate Atlas. Therefore, through a Danish governmant funded Strategic Sector Cooperation, DMI is part of a project with Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) which is strengthening authoritative and relevant climate services provision in Ghana through the increased use of climate information and meteorological data in climate change adaptation and climate risk management. This is being done through DMI collaborating with GMet in the development of a National Climate Atlas projecting climate change at regional level in Ghana for three different greenhouse gas emission scenarios. In the heart of this collaboraton is capacity building carried out via the principle of co-defining, co-development and co-producing the atlas by DMI and GMet researchers working with local stakeholders. Recognising the potential to learn from each other and to enable the development and replication of climate services in new regions, DMI developed KAPy (Klimaatlases in Python). KAPy is a tool that builds on software framework centered on the Python programing language, utilizing the extensive tools already established in the programming community. KAPy’s use of workflow control tools enables reproducibility and scalability, while its open-source approach drives both effective collaboration and transparency. Here, we illustate the capability of how this tool is central in producing climate service information in Ghana, including an extensive analysis of the efforts required to produce climate-service ready indicators starting from scratch. How internet bandwidth limitations can be avoided by using KAPy is also shown, thus increasing the productivity and enabling implementation in resource limited situations, such as those in Africa. We conclude by highlighting that KAPy contributes to making climate services provision more transparent and enables DMI to utilize it in other African countries to strengthen their climate services provision.
How to cite: Nangombe, S., Stensballe, J., Payne, M., Martey, F., Quaye, D., Asuako, H., Tetteh, D., Amavih2, J., Abbey, P.-W., Aggrey, C., Kpodo, E., Gyasi, A., Wordu, Q., Annan, S., Sarup, K., Ofori, H., and Johansen, C.: Developing a reproducible and scalable climate atlas for Ghana through strategic cooperation between Danish Meteorological Institute and Ghana Meteorological Agency, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13012, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13012, 2025.
ccording to Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations (FAO), over 735 million people faced hunger in 2022. Less developed countries, where subsistence agriculture is a major livelihood, suffer disproportionately the effects of food insecurity. Weather, climate variability and climate change alter in time and space the phenological stages of crops and, therefore, agricultural planning and production. Climatological crop calendars for rainfed agriculture can be generated in the intertropical areas using time series of daily accumulated rainfall. They convey actionable information about the start and the end of the rainy season and, coupled with information on the crop's growing cycle length, allow to produce estimations for early, normal and late planting periods for different crops.
In cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization and the project Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems Initiative (CREWS) in West Africa, the C3/IU-RESCAT/URV has developed a series of tools to support the generation of climatological crop calendars. We adopted a "from data to service" approach, guiding five National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in the region (in alphabetical order, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Togo) from the quality control of the raw rainfall time series to the generation of the crop calendar. The cooperation started with a first workshop in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, 2019), continued on-line through the COVID-19 pandemia and has gained momentum in since 2024 after a workshop on Lomé (Togo). The cooperation includes easy to use software applications, short scientific missions, and a dedicated Moodle site to facilitate training and self-training events and a guidelines document.
In this contribution, we walk through the software tools created and the contents of the moodle site, as well as examples of crop calendars for the different agroclimatic zones in West Africa and their practical application.
How to cite: Aguilar, E., Agniga, K. T., Boqué, A., Cimolai, C., and Olano, J.: Enhancing capacities in the field of agrometeorology: developing climatological crop calendars. , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15575, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15575, 2025.
Posters virtual: Wed, 30 Apr, 14:00–15:45 | vPoster spot 1
EGU25-20205 | Posters virtual | VPS1
Climate Services for Risk Reduction in Africa (CS4RRA): a multilateral initiative between Europe and AfricaWed, 30 Apr, 14:00–15:45 (CEST) | vP1.5
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.
