WASCAL - West African Science Service Center onClimate Change and Adapted Land Use

1. West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
WASCAL - West African Science Service Center on
Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
Manfred Denich
Bonn Climate Change Conference, 36th SBSTA session
Bonn, May 23, 2012

2. Problems (examples)
• 5th IPCC report:
831 invited authors – 66 are African scientists (8%)
• Publications on climate and related issues:
2.4% from African scientist (1981-2009)
• Number of delegates: USA 136, Ethiopia 2 (Bali 2007)

3. WASCAL…
•aims at strengthening the capacities and competences in
research, education and policy making
of West-African countries…
•to deal with issues of climate change
through adapted land use on a scientific basis…
•in partnership with German institutions
(research institutes, universities).

4. WASCAL partner countries
• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Côte d‘Ivoire
• Gambia
• Ghana (HQ)
• Mali
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Sénégal
• Togo

5. WASCAL partners
•West African universities (11+)
•National meteorological services (6 countries)
•National water resources authorities (6 countries)
•National agricultural research systems (6 countries)
•Regional and international institutions (9+)
•German universities and research centers (10)

6. Capacity development and infrastructure
1. Competence Center (Ouagadougou)
2. Core Research Program
3. Graduate Research Program

7. Competence Center
•provides infrastructure for research and development,
•brings together know-how in climate, hydrology, land
use, biodiversity, economics and social sciences.

8. Establishment of databases
•Data collection networks (climate, water, land use,
biodiversity, socio-economic data)
•Data management
•Data analyses and policy advice

9. Core Research Program
African and German scientists establish
a joint research program on land management
under changing climatic conditions.

10. Research clusters
• Climate and weather
e.g. Interactions between land surface changes and regional climate
• Landscape dynamics
e.g. Adapting to water scarcity, uncertainty, and the effect of changing climate
patterns
• Agricultural systems
e.g. Locally-evolved land management options as coping measures to climate
change
• Markets and livelihoods
e.g. Demography and land use under increasing climate variability
• Risk management
e.g. Economic evaluation of risk management strategies
• Integrated assessment
e.g. Scenario analyses at landscape level

11. Graduate Research Programs (GRP)
Regional universities work together and with
counterpart institutions in Germany to establish GRPs.
The idea is based on an analysis of the West African
university landscape:
•few universities in the region have the critical mass to
establish an above-average GRP on climate issues,
•to be attractive, high-quality teaching facilities and
adequate research opportunities have to be offered.

12. Graduate research programs identified by
regional policy makers:
2.African Climate Systems (Nigeria)
3.Climate Change and Water Resources (Benin)
4.Climate Change Economics (Sénégal)
5.Climate Change and Land Resources (Ghana)
6.Climate Change and Agriculture (Mali)
7.Climate Change and Biodiversity (Côte d'Ivoire)
8.Climate Change and Human Security (Togo) (Master)
9.Climate Change and Land Use (Nigeria) (Master)

13. Structure of a graduate research program
German Lead Competence
university university Center
Regional Regional Regional
university 1 university 2 university 3
• The GRPs are based at a university campus (lead
university) of one of the participating countries.
• Each GRP accepts 10 doctoral students per year.

14. Germany
Minna
WASCAL network

15. Thank you !
www.wascal.org

16. West African universities
•Université d’Abomey-Calavi (Benin)
•Université de Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
•University of the Gambia (The Gambia)
•Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
(KNUST) (Ghana)
•Université de Cocody-Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire)
•Université de Bamako (Mali)
•Université Abdou Moumouni de Niamey (Niger)
•Federal University of Technology Akure (Nigeria)
•Federal University of Technology Minna (Nigeria)
•Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Senegal)
•Université de Lomé (Togo)

17. National institutions
• National Meteorological Services
Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Togo
• National Water Resources Authorities
Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Togo
• National Agricultural Research Systems
INRAB - Benin, INERA - Burkina Faso, CSIR - Ghana,
CNRA - Côte d'Ivoire, IER - Mali, ITRA - Togo

18. Regional and international institutions
•VBA, AGRHYMET/CILSS, Institut 2iE, FARA, AGRA
•UNU-EHS, IWMI, IFPRI, WMO

19. German partners
•Center for Development Research – ZEF Bonn
•University of Bonn (Geography, Agriculture)
•University of Augsburg (Geography)
•University of Würzburg (BioCenter, Geography)
•Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
•German Aerospace Center (DLR)
•German Climate Computing Center (DKRZ)
•Forschungszentrum Jülich