Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation: linking science, policy and practice
Photo: Steve Warui Photography
African savannas are unique and complex ecosystems under immense pressure. Savannas are very rich in biodiversity and provide indispensable ecosystem services to people. However, unsustainable resource extraction practices, rapid demographic growth, weak governance structures and conflicting socio-economic development and environmental objectives have led to partially irreversible changes in land use and land cover. The vast African savanna systems have largely been converted into managed landscapes, including agricultural and settlement areas. Indeed, whereas savannas continue to be home to iconic wildlife, they are also the “breadbasket” of the continent, providing much of Africa’s cropland and grazing areas. One of the greatest future challenges in savanna areas will be to adapt to the everchanging environmental conditions, to conserve their biodiversity, maintain ecosystem functionality and ecosystem service provision, and concurrently to provide food for the human population. Nature-based approaches such as ecosystem-based management and green infrastructure could be part of the solution here.
Savanna Landscape, Kenya, Crescent Island
About us
The African Climate and Environment Center – Future African Savannas (AFAS) commenced in 2021 is one of the DAAD Global Centres for Climate and Environment. AFAS is a consortium between two African and two German universities and strives for interdisciplinary and international exchange beyond academia by working at the science-policy-practice interface. The thematic focus of the center is nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and biodiversity loss in African savannas.
Our Mission
The project initiative stems from the urgent need to develop sound and robust evidence-based and science-backed strategies to preserve and protect the fragile environments of the West and East African savannas against the combined threats of extensive and diverse land use and rapid climate change. AFAS aims to train young African scholars in the interdisciplinary field of climate change adaptation and biodiversity and to transfer scientific findings into practice, while at the same time reducing the climate and environmental footprint of education, research and international cooperation. The project specifically focuses on the potential of nature-based solutions and of cooperation on the science-policy-practice interface.
With these aims in mind, AFAS:
Partners
AFAS is a consortium of four institutions in three countries:
AFAS collaborates with academic and non-academic partners to jointly identify areas of interest for research, for improving the AFAS curriculum and for creating synergies between academia, practice and policy.
Our AFAS graduate programme is hosted jointly by Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) with its African Centre of Excellence on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Agriculture (CEA-CCBAD) in Côte d’Ivoire and the University of Nairobi (UoN) with its Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA) in Kenya. The graduate programme on Science-Policy-Practice Interfaces (SPPI) is based on existing programmes in biodiversity and climate change adaptation at CEA-CCBAD and ICCA. Via hybrid training, our students participate either in person or virtually in top-up courses offered by AFAS in the fields of climate, biodiversity, ecosystem services, nature-based solutions, SPPI and soft skills.
Currently, 20 Master students are enrolled, of which 12 are female and 8 are male. The graduate school also hosts three PhD students. AFAS students come from a variety of West and East African countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda.
The selected Master – and PhD students receive scholarships funded by the DAAD.
The next call for applications will be in spring 2023.
For more information, visit our website: https://www.afas.africa/
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AFAS Stakeholders Workshop November 2022 - Nairobi, Kenya
Group photo of all participants on DAY 1
Photo: Steve Warui Photography
AFAS Stakeholders Workshop November 2022 - Nairobi, Kenya
Group photo AFAS staff and students
Photo: Steve Warui Photography
AFAS Stakeholders Workshop November 2022 - Nairobi, Kenya
Impression
Photo: Steve Warui Photography
AFAS Stakeholders Workshop November 2022 - Nairobi, Kenya
Opening Ceremony
Photo: Steve Warui Photography
AFAS Students @ COP15, Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire)
Photo: Pacal/ZEF
AFAS Stakeholder Workshop May 2022 - Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Photo: Pacal/ZEF
AFAS team members during our stakeholder workshop in May 2022: Prof. Dr. Souleymane Konaté, Dr. Jan Henning Sommer, Dr. Juliet Wanjiku Kamau, Prof. Dr. Christian Borgemeister (LTR.)
Photo: Pacal/ZEF
DIGI-FACE – Digital Initative for African Centres of Excellence represented by:
University of Applied Sciences Kehl
Kehl Institute of Applied Research (KIAF)
Projects International Cooperation and Development
Kinzigallee 1, D- 77694 Kehl
+49 7851 894143
https://www.hs-kehl.de/
Contact: digiface[at]hs-kehl.de
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