Press Release
The Republic of Guinea has officially joined the WASCAL fraternity as part of the organization’s expansion efforts to cover all the West African States to intensify its regional integration approach to combating climate change and improving livelihoods.
The announcement was made by the presidency of the republic through its Minister of Higher education.
The announcement of Guinea is in recognition of the need to recognize the need for a joint effort of the countries in West Africa, in cooperation with other countries and with intergovernmental non-governmental organizations, in order to improve the projection of the impact of climate change on the economic development of the region and the means to inform policy makers on land use policies that will help counter these effects, and for this purpose to encourage, promote and undertake research at the regional and national levels.
In a statement by the Chair of the WASCAL Ministerial Council, Dr. Amadou Keita, he expressed delight at the ascension of the Republic Guinea to WASCAL fraternity.
“Our interactions with the government of Guinea have been very smooth. The agreement to finally come on board is in the right direction to garnering regional integration approach to combating climate change and improving livelihoods in West Africa. We want to thank His Excellency, Mamady Doumbouya, the President of the Republic of Guinea, for his leadership role in this success story.” He said.
By this, the Republic of Guinea will participate in and benefit from the WASCAL Research Programme, and the “Graduate Research Programme” with “Graduate Schools” in designated countries across the sub-region; have equal access to and benefit from the “WASCAL Competence Centre in Burkina Faso” and also from an international effort in state-of-the-art data collection as described in detail in the “WASCAL Work and Financial Plan”.
The WASCAL governing board chair, Prof. Hassirou Mouhamadou, together with the Executive Director, Dr. Moumini Savadogo, have been at the helm of engagement.
Per the constitution of WASCAL, the organization shall improve the climate change research infrastructure and capacity in West Africa to generate the knowledge and develop the analytical capability in the region to solve current and land management problems caused by changing climate and weather conditions and also assist policy and decision makers in design and implementation of resilient and adaptive land use systems and develop measures to conserve or restore functional ecosystems that support sustainable human development, while preserving the natural resource base for future generation.
WASCAL is implemented in a collaborative effort by West African and German partners. Established by 10 West African countries together with the Federal Republic of Germany, WASCAL has now grown to have 12 member countries, with the Republic of Guinea, inclusive. The three remaining ECOWAS countries (Guinea Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone) have expressed their interest and are finalizing the process for full adhesion to this large-scale research-focused Climate Service Centre designed to help tackle this challenge and thereby enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to climate change and increased variability.
Over the past 10 years, the organization has been committed to providing information and knowledge at the local, national, and regional levels to its West African member countries to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change and devise integrated mid and long-term options to build up resilient and productive socio-ecological landscapes.