Accelerating and Scaling Africa's Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Actions - Experiences and Lessons
Backgound
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) is holding its 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the theme “Transforming Higher Education to Sustainably Feed and Create Prosperity for Africa”. The AGM will be hosted by the Government of Cameroon and RUFORUM member Universities in Cameroon namely; University of Bamenda, University of Buea, University of Dschang, University of Maroua, and University of Ngaoundere. Between 500 and 700 participants representing higher education leaders, researchers, policy makers, development partners, private sector actors, students, farmers, among other actors will come together to discuss key challenges and opportunities to transform agricultural higher education to contribute to Africa’s development.
One of the thematic areas of the AGM will focus on accelerating and scaling-up Africa’s climate change adaptation and mitigation actions.
The continent is vulnerable to climate change impacts because of its reliance on rain-fed agriculture. Predictions show that global warming of 1.5°C or 2.0°C, a now more than likely scenario, will shorten crop growth duration, aggravate droughts, and consequently reduce yield for major staple cereals. Climate change adaptation is necessary to reduce the likely impacts on agricultural productivity. Mitigation actions are required to reduce on greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon sequestration.
RUFORUM is a regional partner of AICCRA (Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa) and is also engaged in other climate change initiatives, including Graduate Research Training on measurement and management of greenhouse gas emissions through the Global Research Alliance for Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Climate Action in Africa (RAINCA).
About the event
To share experiences and lessons learned from these initiatives, RUFORUM in partnership with AICCRA and GRA are convening a side event on Accelerating and scaling up Africa’s climate change adaptation and mitigation actions.
The side event will focus on the following thematic areas:
- 1. Climate information services
- 2. Climate change mitigation research (including estimates of carbon emissions)
- 3. Climate change governance
- 4. Climate-adaptive agriculture
Under AICCRA, RUFORUM has developed curricula for enhancing the use of validated climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and/or the climate information services (CIS) knowledge products developed by the CGIAR Centres and other research institutions. The modules and other technologies, practices and innovations developed under the AICCRA programme will be showcased in the side event.
The event will also explore avenues for mainstreaming CSA/CIS into university activities including university curricula, research and outreach.
Objectives
The overall objective of the side event is to share lessons and experiences from our collaborative work in Africa, as well as address challenges in accelerating and scaling up Africa’s climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, including:
- Lessons learn from climate change mitigation research on the continent
- Increase awareness of CSA/CIS technologies, practices and innovations developed by the AICCRA Project among university stakeholders
- Disseminate completed training modules developed by RUFORUM and WASCAL for integration into university curricula
- Showcase the GRA initiatives and identify possible collaboration on climate change research and mitigation across Africa
Expected outcomes
- University stakeholders to appreciate the curricular developed under the AICCRA project
- University stakeholders commit to integrate CSA/CIS curricula in their university training programmes
- Further research and collaboration on climate change mitigation and adaptation
- Stakeholders appreciating the impact of climate change and its implications to Agri-food Systems Development
For further information on the side event, please contact Belmira Moustapha, AICCRA West Africa Communications Officer, at b.moustapha@cgiar.org
