The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) has engaged its stakeholders drawn from the Anglophone countries within ECOWAS.

The workshop, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Education in Germany (BMBF) is the third sub-regional engagement to build a regional research agenda that reflects the needs of West Africans.

The meeting was held in Accra last week, at the Headquarters.

According to the Executive Director of WASCAL Dr. Laurent Sedogo, the first two consultative meetings were held in Dakar and Cotonou specifically to engage all the Francophone countries within the region.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day workshop Dr. Sedogo said WASCAL is committed to being the unique regional research centre that will generate authentic data to feed national and regional policy initiative.

“From our capacity building programme to our research arm and the climate service services unit, we aim at pursuing demand-driven activities that are relevant to needs of the people we are serving,” Dr. Sedogo indicated.

Touting the achievements of WASCAL, Dr Sedogo said “WASCAL has chalked modest successes in the area of research and capacity building efforts. Through our capacity building programme WASCAL has trained over one hundred and fifty postgraduate students (at the Masters and PhD levels) and recently awarded scholarships to a new batch of about one hundred students.”
Dr. Sedogo again noted that in order to make WASCAL’s research relevant to the ECOWAS region, it commissioned these national and regional consultative meetings to garner the invaluable inputs of stakeholders to its research agenda for 2017-2020.

“WASCAL is now poised to take the leadership role in the area of climate change and adapted land use research, and advocate science-based adaptation and mitigation strategies that will enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to the threat of climate change,” Sedogo observed.

In his keynote address, The Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Economic Section of the German Embassy, Mr. Bernhard Abels, hinted that the threat of climate change and climate variability to humanity’s collective well-being is more evident now than ever.
According to Mr. Abels, the effects of climate change and climate variability in the last two decades, especially for smallholder farmers are enormous.

He indicated that Germany is of the firm belief that working together West African partners can significantly reduce the effects of the alarming phenomenon.

This means strengthening the cooperation between Germany and West Africa in terms of research and exploring science-based solutions to the common problems that affect us, he noted.
In line with this objective, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) has invested an amount of €30million in the work of WASCAL over a five year period.

The amount, is expected to be used infrastructure, scientific equipment, capacity building and research undertaken by German and African scientists.

The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) has engaged its stakeholders drawn from the Anglophone countries within ECOWAS.

The workshop, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Education in Germany (BMBF) is the third sub-regional engagement to build a regional research agenda that reflects the needs of West Africans.

The meeting was held in Accra last week, at the Headquarters.

According to the Executive Director of WASCAL Dr. Laurent Sedogo, the first two consultative meetings were held in Dakar and Cotonou specifically to engage all the Francophone countries within the region.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day workshop Dr. Sedogo said WASCAL is committed to being the unique regional research centre that will generate authentic data to feed national and regional policy initiative.

“From our capacity building programme to our research arm and the climate service services unit, we aim at pursuing demand-driven activities that are relevant to needs of the people we are serving,” Dr. Sedogo indicated.

Touting the achievements of WASCAL, Dr Sedogo said “WASCAL has chalked modest successes in the area of research and capacity building efforts. Through our capacity building programme WASCAL has trained over one hundred and fifty postgraduate students (at the Masters and PhD levels) and recently awarded scholarships to a new batch of about one hundred students.”
Dr. Sedogo again noted that in order to make WASCAL’s research relevant to the ECOWAS region, it commissioned these national and regional consultative meetings to garner the invaluable inputs of stakeholders to its research agenda for 2017-2020.

“WASCAL is now poised to take the leadership role in the area of climate change and adapted land use research, and advocate science-based adaptation and mitigation strategies that will enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to the threat of climate change,” Sedogo observed.

In his keynote address, The Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Economic Section of the German Embassy, Mr. Bernhard Abels, hinted that the threat of climate change and climate variability to humanity’s collective well-being is more evident now than ever.

According to Mr. Abels, the effects of climate change and climate variability in the last two decades, especially for smallholder farmers are enormous.

He indicated that Germany is of the firm belief that working together West African partners can significantly reduce the effects of the alarming phenomenon.

This means strengthening the cooperation between Germany and West Africa in terms of research and exploring science-based solutions to the common problems that affect us, he noted.

In line with this objective, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) has invested an amount of €30million in the work of WASCAL over a five year period.

The amount, is expected to be used infrastructure, scientific equipment, capacity building and research undertaken by German and African scientists.

The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) has engaged its stakeholders drawn from the Anglophone countries within ECOWAS.

The workshop, sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Education in Germany (BMBF) is the third sub-regional engagement to build a regional research agenda that reflects the needs of West Africans.

The meeting was held in Accra last week, at the Headquarters.

According to the Executive Director of WASCAL Dr. Laurent Sedogo, the first two consultative meetings were held in Dakar and Cotonou specifically to engage all the Francophone countries within the region.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day workshop Dr. Sedogo said WASCAL is committed to being the unique regional research centre that will generate authentic data to feed national and regional policy initiative.

“From our capacity building programme to our research arm and the climate service services unit, we aim at pursuing demand-driven activities that are relevant to needs of the people we are serving,” Dr. Sedogo indicated.

Touting the achievements of WASCAL, Dr Sedogo said “WASCAL has chalked modest successes in the area of research and capacity building efforts. Through our capacity building programme WASCAL has trained over one hundred and fifty postgraduate students (at the Masters and PhD levels) and recently awarded scholarships to a new batch of about one hundred students.”

Dr. Sedogo again noted that in order to make WASCAL’s research relevant to the ECOWAS region, it commissioned these national and regional consultative meetings to garner the invaluable inputs of stakeholders to its research agenda for 2017-2020.

“WASCAL is now poised to take the leadership role in the area of climate change and adapted land use research, and advocate science-based adaptation and mitigation strategies that will enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to the threat of climate change,” Sedogo observed.

In his keynote address, The Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Economic Section of the German Embassy, Mr. Bernhard Abels, hinted that the threat of climate change and climate variability to humanity’s collective well-being is more evident now than ever.

According to Mr. Abels, the effects of climate change and climate variability in the last two decades, especially for smallholder farmers are enormous.

He indicated that Germany is of the firm belief that working together West African partners can significantly reduce the effects of the alarming phenomenon.

This means strengthening the cooperation between Germany and West Africa in terms of research and exploring science-based solutions to the common problems that affect us, he noted.

In line with this objective, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) has invested an amount of €30million in the work of WASCAL over a five year period.

The amount, is expected to be used infrastructure, scientific equipment, capacity building and research undertaken by German and African scientists.

WASCAL has a new Governing Board. Its members were appointed at the latest Board Meeting which took place in Bonn, Germany, on April 14 (meeting of former Governing Board) and April 15 (meeting of new Governing Board).

The new Governing Board consists of the following members:

Mr. Peter Dery, Chairman (Ghana), Prof. Abdourahamane Konare (Cote d’Ivoire), Prof. Yacouba Zerbo (Burkina Faso), Prof. Brice Sinsin (Benin), Mr. Wilfried Kraus (Germany), Dr. Momodou Njie (The Gambia), Prof. Modibo Haidara (Mali), Mouhamadou Hassirou (Niger), Prof. Adeniyi Osuntogun (Nigeria), Prof. Amadou Ndiaye (Senegal), Dr. Akossiwa Quashie (Togo) and Dr. Johnson Boanuh (Ex-Officio Board member representing ECOWAS).

The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adopted Land Use (WASCAL) has offered 100 scholarships to 10 West African graduate students to study courses in climate change.

The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adopted Land Use (WASCAL) has offered 100 scholarships to 10 West African graduate students to study courses in climate change.

The programme, supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, comprised 60 Doctoral Research Programme and 40 Master’s Research Programme is to strengthen West Africa’s human scientific capacities to analyse regional climate change impacts.

The postgraduate programme was a partnership between 10 West African Universities and selected German Institutions.

The students were selected from Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Togo, Benin, The Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

Dr Laurent Sedogo, Executive Director of WASCAL announced this when he opened the sub-regional consultative meeting on climate change in Accra.

The meeting brought together researchers, government institutions, policy makers and stakeholders in the climate change sector to draw a strategic plan for West African Climate Research Agenda 2020.

The meeting he said was the last of three consultative meetings to identify common research and capacity building needs of different member countries for consideration in a final regional meeting.

Dr Sedogo said the initiative was part of WASCAL’s commitment to train and build the capacity of the next generation of African scientists to champion the fight against climate change, while influencing governments and policy makers.

Since the inception of the programme in 2012, 255 students have benefited from the scholarship programme.

“WASCAL is committed to being a unique regional research centre that pursues a research for development agenda and provides relevant research findings that feed directly into national and regional policy formula”, he added.

He noted said WASCAL is poised to lead in the area of climate change and advocate science-based adaptation and mitigation strategies to enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to the threat of climate change.

Dr Sedogo urged participants to discuss the issues passionately and focus on developing a demand-driven research and capacity building needs to benefit member countries.

Mr Bernhard Abels, Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy, said the threat of climate change and climate variability has resulted in floods, droughts, high temperatures, declined in water suppliers and reduced agricultural yields.

He said over the past five years, 30 million Euros was invested in infrastructure, scientific equipment, capacity building and research undertaken by German and African scientists.

He said the Republic of Germany believes that working with partners in West Africa could reduce the effects and threats of climate change through effective research and exploring science-based solutions.

Mr Abels noted that through the WASCAL initiative, the research infrastructure and capacity in West Africa related to climate change has been strengthened and preparing to lead in conducting cutting-edge research to produce sustainable solutions to the problems.

Professor Janet Olatundun Adelegan, Director of Capacity Building for WASCAL said her outfit conducts a regional research and capacity-developing programme to improve the use of land resources through better technologies, policies, institutions and management.

Prof Adelegan said WASCAL is organised around three principle components: climate service department, which collects, integrates and analyses data while the research department seeks ways to generate resilience in cultural landscapes and the graduate studies department strengthens human capacity through partnerships with universities in the region.

Accra, April 6, GNA – The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adopted Land Use (WASCAL) has offered 100 scholarships to 10 West African graduate students to study courses in climate change.

The graduate programme was aimed at designing strategies to adapt to threats, opportunities and uncertainties of climate change within the region.
The programme, supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, comprised 60 Doctoral Research Programme and 40 Master’s Research Programme is to strengthen West Africa’s human scientific capacities to analyse regional climate change impacts.

The postgraduate programme was a partnership between 10 West African Universities and selected German Institutions.

The students were selected from Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Togo, Benin, The Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

Dr Laurent Sedogo, Executive Director of WASCAL announced this when he opened the sub-regional consultative meeting on climate change in Accra.
The meeting brought together researchers, government institutions, policy makers and stakeholders in the climate change sector to draw a strategic plan for West African Climate Research Agenda 2020.

The meeting he said was the last of three consultative meetings to identify common research and capacity building needs of different member countries for consideration in a final regional meeting.

Dr Sedogo said the initiative was part of WASCAL’s commitment to train and build the capacity of the next generation of African scientists to champion the fight against climate change, while influencing governments and policy makers.

Since the inception of the programme in 2012, 255 students have benefited from the scholarship programme.
‘WASCAL is committed to being a unique regional research centre that pursues a research for development agenda and provides relevant research findings that feed directly into national and regional policy formula’, he added.

He noted said WASCAL is poised to lead in the area of climate change and advocate science-based adaptation and mitigation strategies to enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to the threat of climate change.

Dr Sedogo urged participants to discuss the issues passionately and focus on developing a demand-driven research and capacity building needs to benefit member countries.

Mr Bernhard Abels, Deputy Head of Mission at the German Embassy, said the threat of climate change and climate variability has resulted in floods, droughts, high temperatures, declined in water suppliers and reduced agricultural yields.
He said over the past five years, 30 million Euros was invested in infrastructure, scientific equipment, capacity building and research undertaken by German and African scientists.

He said the Republic of Germany believes that working with partners in West Africa could reduce the effects and threats of climate change through effective research and exploring science-based solutions.

Mr Abels noted that through the WASCAL initiative, the research infrastructure and capacity in West Africa related to climate change has been strengthened and preparing to lead in conducting cutting-edge research to produce sustainable solutions to the problems.

Professor Janet Olatundun Adelegan, Director of Capacity Building for WASCAL said her outfit conducts a regional research and capacity-developing programme to improve the use of land resources through better technologies, policies, institutions and management.

Prof Adelegan said WASCAL is organised around three principle components: climate service department, which collects, integrates and analyses data while the research department seeks ways to generate resilience in cultural landscapes and the graduate studies department strengthens human capacity through partnerships with universities in the region.

The third sub-regional consultative meeting to build a regional research agenda that reflects West African needs was held in Accra last week, at the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) Headquarters. – See more at: http://thebftonline.com/business/economy/18264/regional-consultation-to-build-regional-research-in-climate-change.html#sthash.3yskf3o5.dpuf

The West Africa Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is to train about 3,000 research scientists by the year 2020.
This is intended to contribute to efforts by member countries of WASCAL to fight the effects of climate change on the West African sub-region and also improve the resilience of West African countries to climate change and climate variability.

The Director, Capacity Building, WASCAL, Professor Janet Olatundun Adelegan, gave the hint yesterday, when she presented a brief on WASCAL’s capacity-building programme, during the opening ceremony of a sub-regional consultative meeting on climate change in Accra.
The two-day meeting was attended by representatives from four West African countries – The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana.

“In West Africa we have a population of about 348 million and looking at what WASCAL has done so far, producing about 200 research scientists, our projection is to have about 3,000 climate scientists by the year 2020,” Prof. Adelegan said.

She explained that the centre was expected to organise short courses and workshops to complement the major courses which would be demand-driven and focused on the priorities of countries in the sub-region, so as to make them relevant.
Essence of meeting

The Executive Director of WASCAL, Dr Laurent G. Sedogo, said the meeting was the last of three sub-regional consultative meetings that were “aimed at identifying common research and capacity building needs of different member countries for consideration in a final regional meeting in a few months” in Ouagadougou.

He said WASCAL had commissioned national and regional consultative meetings and had so far held 14 of such , to solicit the inputs of partners and customers for their research agenda for 2017 to 2020.

“Our overarching objective is to integrate, as much as possible, the research and capacity-building needs expressed by our partners into our research agenda, so as to make our research findings and the climate services relevant to the needs of the ECOWAS region,” he stated.

Sense of ownership

The Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Economic Section of the German Embassy, Mr Bernhard Abels, who was the special guest of honour, said the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Germany wished that through the consultative workshops, member countries would develop a high sense of ownership of the WASCAL programme and agenda.

He said the BMBF also hoped that African countries would increasingly commit human and financial resources to achieve the ultimate goal of significantly reducing the effects of climate change and climate variability on human and environmental systems.

Citing some of the effects of climate change on the West African sub-region, Mr Abels said, “As the main source of livelihood for majority of the populace, rain-fed agriculture is becoming unattractive and unbeneficial for millions of smallholder farmers due to factors such as delayed start of rains, long spells during the season and declining soil fertility.”

He indicated that it was to reduce the impact of climate change that over €30 million had already been invested in infrastructure, scientific equipment, capacity building and research by German and African scientists in the last five years.