The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is a multidisciplinary research-focused Climate Service Centre mandated to help tackle the challenges of climate change in West Africa. It was established to primarily, enhance the resilience of socio-ecological systems of West African countries to climate change and increased volatility. Its member countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
WASCAL ultimately aims at strengthening the research, educational and policy capacity and competency of the West-African countries to deal with issues of climate change and adapted land use on a scientific basis in partnership with German institutions. The programme seeks to give support to West African universities to synergize their efforts on a regional basis and to maximize their competencies and resources to improve the training in climate, land use and geosciences for better overall results and increased benefit to West Africa.
The PhD programme in Climate Change and Land Use (CCLU) is hosted at the Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. The aim of the programme is to train students in the science and technology of climate change mitigation and adaptation related to land use and land cover change.