START

Call for Participation: African Local Summit

Jessica Boesl — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:50:56 +0000

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
April 1-4, 2012 – Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa

The “African Local Summit” secretariat calls government agencies, civil society, private entities, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, media, traditional and community leaders, artisans and artists, youth groups, social and popular movements from all across Ghana, Africa and the World at large to join the process that will lead to achieving sustainable and equitable development, attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Ghana and Africa at large and also ensuring maximum participation of Africans in The Global Summit 2012.

Call for proposals on Paper Presentations on Innovative Solutions for achieving the MDGs are now being invited on the following tracks – environment, information communication technology, natural resources, good governance, poverty reduction, health, education and culture, private sector development, agriculture, science and technology, youth development, women empowerment, economic and social development, population, peace and security.

Local capacity building tools supported by the 7 Stages to Sustainability Framework LIST:

Additionally, the main Plenary/ key note dialogues will present and discuss Pan-African and global policy issues & advocacy solutions.

Abstracts for Capacity Building Presentations and Training Tools can be submitted via email to als@theglobalsummit.org.

The deadline for submissions is February 15, 2012 and applicants will be notified of acceptance by March 01, 2012.

Keynote presentations are by invitation only, however, nominations and feedback is welcome.

Interested participants may register at www.africanlocalsummit.org

Interest in Exhibition, Sponsorship, and Partnership should be directed to the “African Regional Summit” secretariat at als@theglobalsummit.org

Volunteers willing to help moderate sessions and/or promote awareness of the event are invited to contact the secretariat.

For further information about the event; please kindly visit the congress website at www.africanlocalsummit.org or email als@theglobalsummit.org

Global Challenge, African Solutions

The primary objectives of the “African Local Summit” are:

1) To achieve sustainable and equitable development and also attain the Millennium Development Goals in Ghana and Africa at large through the application of best practices (globally recognized professional standards) and innovative tools

2) Promote wider participation of Africans in The Global Summit events to ensure the voices of those most affected by global policies are heard – not just in the UN, but in the main stream media, fostering a real understanding of the rich diversity of Africa

3) Establish a sustainable and vibrant development oriented professional network, fostering economic opportunities, attracting appropriate technology transfer and investments and access to markets in a way that honors and protects local heritage

Furthermore, the event seeks to create communities which would be able to optimize their indigenous resources in sustainable ways and build economic stability, and thus thrive socially, politically, and culturally.

The three day Summit shall involve a training symposium to empower members of various sectors of the country including government agencies, civil society, private entities, educational institutions, entrepreneurs, media, traditional leaders, community leaders, artisans and artists.

The training symposium incorporating locally appropriate best practices based on Asset Based Community Development will be delivered as a global collaboration strategy, also known as “Seven Stages to Sustainability (7SS)”.

Inspired by traditional self-governance systems from west Africa, and further advanced through years of locally-led community development research, this best-practice delivery and training system combines elements of Social Business, Sustainable Development and mirrors proven innovation science methods used for private sector industry and Business Development.

While the training content at the African Regional Summit will be led and created based on local needs and issues, it is also universal, enabling trainees to engage globally. In fact, the 7 Stages curriculum was first delivered in Fall 2009 in partnership with the World Academy for the Future of Women as the primary curriculum to train young women leaders to achieve the MDGs.

Designed to serve as a bridge for those communities searching for ways out of poverty, inequity, environmental destruction, social justice, environmental stewardship, and economic stability, the original Service Learning curriculum was developed and taught by Melanie St. James, CEO of Empowerment Works.

Leveraging this collaborative educational and action oriented development framework, the “African Regional Summit” shall establish an all-inclusive sustainable, efficient and effective local and regional development based network which shall serve as a catalyst platform for developmental activities in Ghana and Africa at large.

Furthermore; the “African Regional Summit” shall ensure maximum participation of local and regional (Africa) development practitioners in the forthcoming Global Summit 2012 to be held August 15-17 in London, England.

The event which shall be highly interactive will include other sessions like presentations on sustainable human development, working and leadership learning groups with one-on-one meetings with leading personalities from the six (6) sectors of PIE across the Region; debates; exhibition; and a host of corporate networking.

Call For Proposals: Disaster Risk Reduction in South Asia

Jessica Boesl — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:32:36 +0000

START, with funding from CDKN, is pleased to announce a Call for Proposals (CFP) for research on integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for resilient development in South Asia. We expect to fund up to five research projects of a maximum $110,000 USD for up to 19-months’ duration. The geographical scope of the CFP is Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

DOWNLOAD 2012 APPLICATION FORM HERE

DEADLINE: 29 February 2012at Midnight (2400 hours) US Eastern Standard Time at the International START Secretariat office. Please submit electronically to: proposals@start.org.

Background

South Asia is prone to disasters spawned or magnified by extreme climatic events, including floods, droughts, heavy downpours, and heat-waves. The frequency and severity of such events is expected to increase significantly with climate change, manifested both as direct impacts and indirectly through interacting with other drivers and stressors in coupled human-natural systems. In addition to rapid-onset disasters, slow-onset situations, such as those linked to climate-change induced shifts in drought frequency and rainfall characteristics interacting with widespread degradation of the natural resource base, further compound vulnerability to disasters.

Actions for managing and mitigating disaster risks have potential for significant overlap with planning processes that build adaptive capacity for climate change, as has been noted in several recent reviews[1][2][3]. However, efforts to transition from the current conceptual basis for the convergence of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) towards operationalizing concepts into actions that integrate the two spheres have been meager. Overcoming obstacles to integrating DRR and CCA requires, amongst other factors, better understanding of policy and institutional capacities across multiple levels and sectors, knowledge and communication needs and decision-making priorities of various stakeholder groups, and governance strengths and deficiencies that shape responses and outcomes. It is with the imperative to improve understanding of these critical factors and linkages that START with support from CDKN is offering this CFP.

In addition to this CFP, CDKN issued a global pilot research call on Climate Compatible Development (CCD) and Agriculture in January 2011; this funded 4 projects for a total of 800,000 GBP. A regional research call for South East Asia is ongoing, and funding 5 projects for a total of 400,000 GBP. A regional research call in Africa will co-fund 10-12 projects for a total of 450,000 GBP. CDKN’s main global research call was issued in September 2011, and will fund up to 8-10 projects from a fund of 4 million. Details of the all of these calls are available on the CDKN website (www.cdkn.org).

Research theme and sub-themes

This CFP seeks collaborative research in the area of adaptive capacity, climate change, and disaster risk reduction in South Asia under the theme of integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for resilient development.

Under this broad research theme, the sub-themes specific to this CFP are:

Institutional arrangements and governance structures that influence the degree of flexibility and sustainability of DRR across varying scales.
The changing nature of systemic development factors (both endogenous and exogenous) that shape vulnerability to disasters.
Policy innovations that promote convergence of DRR and CCA into policy and practice at varying scales.

Implicit in these sub-themes is the need to understand how recent disasters can serve to inform future decision-making and enhance adaptive capacity. What were important failures and successes, and what needs to change in current policies, institutions, and governance structures to build adaptive capacity for disaster risk management given future climate change? What are key enabling factors for this change to occur? How do responses need to change in anticipation of future climate-related events, and how can appropriate responses be developed given the inherent uncertainties about future change trajectories?

Proposals are expected to demonstrate how the research will address one or more of the research sub-themes within the overall research theme.

DOWNLOAD 2012 APPLICATION FORM HERE

For more information about Call For Proposals, contact Sarah Schweizer, sschweizer@start.org.

[1] ODI’s working paper: Responding to a changing climate: Exploring how disaster risk reduction, social protection and livelihoods approaches promote features of adaptive capacity can be found at: http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/docs/5860.pdf

[2] Strengthening Climate Resilience’s discussion paper 2: Assessing progress on integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in development processes can be found at: http://community.eldis.org/.59e0d267/Convergence.pdf

[3]Source’s publication no. 14: Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation: Case studies from South and Southeast Asia can be found at: http://www.ehs.unu.edu/file/get/7666

Call for Proposals: Adaptation Science and Adaptation Policy Fellowships on Climate Change in Africa

Jessica Boesl — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:40:36 +0000

Deadline: 6th February 2012.

The African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP) Secretariat of the Institute of Resource Assessment at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania (IRA-UDSM) is pleased to announce the second call for Proposals for “Adaptation Science Fellowships” and “Adaptation Policy Fellowships”.

ACCFP Fellowships provide experiential learning, education, research and training opportunities to African professionals, researchers and graduate students to enhance their capabilities for advancing and applying knowledge for climate change adaptation in Africa. African graduate students, early to mid-career professionals, scientific researchers and university educators are eligible to apply. Applications are particularly encouraged from women and traditionally under-represented regions and countries in Africa.

For the full call for proposals and the application forms, visit: www.accfp.org
For further information, please write to accfp2@gmail.com or accfp@ira.udsm.ac.tz

Applications must be submitted by 6th February 2012 latest.
Appel à Candidatures: Bourses de Recherche pour les Sciences d’Adaptation et les Politiques d’Adaptation au Changement Climatique en Afrique

Date limite: 6 février 2012.

Le secrétariat du Programme De Bourse de Recherche sur le Changement Climatique en Afrique (ACCFP) de l’Institute of Resource Assessment, à l’Université de Dar es Salaam, Tanzanie (IRA-UDSM) lance le second appel à candidature pour les «Bourses de Sciences d’Adaptation» et les «Bourses de Politiques d’Adaptation».

Les bourses de l’ACCFP offrent l’expérience d’apprentissage, d’éducation, de recherche et de possibilités de formation à des professionnels africains, des chercheurs et des étudiants des cycles supérieurs afin de renforcer leurs capacités à faire avancer et appliquer les connaissances pour l’adaptation au changement climatique en Afrique. Les étudiants africains des cycles supérieurs, du début à mi- carrière professionnelle, les chercheurs scientifiques et les enseignants universitaires sont admissibles. Sont encouragées en particulier les candidatures féminines et celles des régions et pays africains traditionnellement sous-représentés.

Pour l’appel à candidature complet et les dossiers d’inscription, visitez : www.accfp.org
Pour plus d’informations, contactez accfp2@gmail.com ou accfp@ira.udsm.ac.tz

Les dossiers complets doivent être soumis le 6 février 2012 dernier délai.

Call for Communications: “Strengthening the Adaptive Capacity of Rural Poor Populations to Climate Change and Variability in West and Central Africa”

Jessica Boesl — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:37:08 +0000

The West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF/WECARD), in collaboration with its partners, is holding its Third West and Central Africa Agricultural Science Week (3rd WCA-ASW) and 10th General Assembly in N’djamena, Chad, in May, 2012.

The main theme chosen for the 3rd WCA-ASW is: “Strengthening the adaptive capacity of rural poor populations to climate change and variability in West and Central Africa”. This theme will be dealt with in the prospect of improving productivity, competitiveness and agricultural markets in order to reduce poverty and food insecurity in West and Central Africa.

The objective of the 3rd WCA-ASW is to raise awareness of the Scientific Community for Agricultural Development, on the constraints related to climate change and variability and on options that can enable rural poor populations to adapt to them.

Call for submission of articles and posters
The agricultural research for development community in West and Central Africa is invited to submit articles and posters.

For more information, see here or visit the CORAF website at www.coraf.org.

An Update from the Global Environmental Change Research in Africa Program

Jessica Boesl — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:46:17 +0000

Global Environmental Change Research in Africa’s project: Management of Ecosystems Services of the Forests of Southwest Nigeria in Support of Rural Livelihoods and Food Security held an inception workshop on 26 December 2011. The objectives, methods and expected outputs of the study were shared, and input from workshop participants was noted and will be incorporated into project implementation. Participants at the workshop included experts and representatives within the Federal University of Technology, state Forestry Departments, community members, student researchers, research and field assistants, and field enumerators.

A follow-up workshop will take place at the end of the project to discuss research findings and recommendations for policy-makers.

To learn more about the scope of this project please visit here.

An Interview with Dr. Olivier Crespo

Jessica Boesl — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:52:23 +0000

Engaging with local farmers who have limited access to irrigation

All farmers, everywhere, face uncertainty as a result of seasonal weather variations. Successful farmers know how to cope and make decisions for selecting the best farming practices for the current season’s weather conditions. However, in recent years, decision-making has become more difficult because of the increasing frequency of extreme weather patterns that deviate from “normal” seasonal fluctuations.

The proposal submitted to START by the collaborative team of Dr. Olivier Crespo, Dr. Mark Tadross, Dr. Peter Johnston and Professor Sue Walker included the following statement of intent: “We are seeking new ways of making the dissemination of the forecasts easier and more understandable. Our experience within the agricultural sector has highlighted the value of graduating from simple seasonal forecasts to include information on agricultural impacts and management options.”

This project, “Improving Seasonal Forecast Information for Managing On-farm Decisions”, is designed to help farmers make decisions for this season’s crops based on information from advanced crop models that were developed at Climate Systems Analysis Group at University of Cape Town, South Africa. One model, the APSIM (Agricultural Production System sIMulator ), allows users to improve their understanding of the impact of climate, soil types, and management on crop and pasture production. It is a powerful tool for exploring agronomic adaptations including: changes in planting dates, the selection of the proper crop variety, selections for fertilizer/irrigation management and timing, etc.

Recently, START staff members asked Dr. Crespo, the Principal Investigator (PI) of the project, to answer a few questions:

1. How is your research progressing? Have there been any interesting successes or challenges for the project thus far?

Since the official launch of the project in June 2011, scientific development has gone smoothly. The first step was to model the case study area in the Swartland (Western Cape, South Africa). This has been done for rain-fed winter wheat, which is the major cropping system in this region. The APSIM crop model now allows us to simulate the wheat outputs when subjected to a unique weather condition.

We are working with farmers to help them use the crop model by using weather data that are consistent with the types of seasonal forecasts provided by the Climate Systems Analysis Group (CSAG) in Cape Town.

At this stage, the major challenge is to define and transform a rather generic description of the next 3-month weather patterns into a detailed data set that will allow the crop model to simulate crop outputs. We are exploring different ways to communicate to farmers with sufficient simplicity to allow them to benefit from the information that has already been developed.

The next step will be to evaluate and improve a crop model for rain-fed maize in the Free State, beginning around New Year 2012.

2. How did your team decide to work together? What parts of this research project most interest you? Why did you decide to do this particular project?

The team of climatologists, agro-meteorologists and crop modelers has been collaborating since 2008. Each person on the team has distinct skills for using weather and seasonal forecasts, as well as a knowledge of the limitations of the models.

I am motivated to develop techniques that provide new perspective on existing or never-tested alternative cropping practices.

Even though scenarios for climate are uncertain, they provide information on projected long-term climate patterns. With an understanding of projected changes, it is possible to make long-term strategic decisions.

Seasonal forecasts, on the other hand, can help farmers to make decisions and improve their farming tactics for the current growing season. But monthly seasonal forecasts do not always provide the accuracy that the farmer needs to make daily and weekly decisions to assure that crop growth is optimal. It is our goal to “pull out” valuable information from seasonal forecasts to help farmers with time-sensitive tactical decision-making.

3. How do you feel your research will contribute to your stakeholders’ abilities to adapt to global environmental change? How will this project be relevant to broader regional and international GEC research?

This project will benefit the local community of stakeholders as follows: 1) The stakeholders will gain experience in using climate forecasts and will develop awareness and understanding of their climatic conditions, and will learn how to use predictions. 2) A major outcome of the project will be to provide the stakeholder community with new approaches and tools to allow them to use the modeling information that has already been developed by CSAG.

Even though we are working at the level of individual farms, the approach is expected to be useful elsewhere in South Africa. The skills learned here can be applied to models that have been developed for other crops. At a larger level, this project will improve knowledge on how to use seasonal forecasts to help improve agricultural practices and increase yields throughout Africa, and worldwide.

Learn more about Dr. Olivier Crespo and his team, or read about other Global Environmental Change research projects.

IRDR Launches The 2011 Beijing Declaration on Integrated Research on Disaster Risk

Jessica Boesl — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:11:13 +0000

IRDR have finalized The 2011 Beijing Declaration on Integrated Research on Disaster Risk which recognizes the IRDR Science Plan and the outcomes of the IRDR 2011 Conference and the valuable contributions made by participants; and being fully aware of the international policy guidance provided by the Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015): Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters, and other major policy and technical initiatives. The 2011 Beijing Declaration calls for commitments in key areas identified at the conference and in previous forums, naming integration, research, global standards, raising awareness, education, and increasing funding as priorities.

To view The 2011 Beijing Declaration, click here.

Video Interview: Saidu Oseni, ACCFP Alumni, on UNFCCC COP17

Jessica Boesl — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:00:27 +0000

Saidu Oseni was one of six alumni of the African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP) selected to particpate in the UNFCCC COP17, held 28 November – 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa. Mr. Oseni was a 2009/2010 Post-Doctoral Fellow who completed his Fellowship at Egerton University in Kenya.

More information about Saidu Oseni and his research Fellowship.

View more videos uploaded by the International START Secretariat.

Delegates presented their Fellowship work in a COP side event session, hosted by START and IDRC Canada, and/or in sessions held during the AU-sponsored Africa Pavilion, which ran parallel to COP events. ACCFP Alumni’s participation in the COP was supported by the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) program.

Click here to check out photos from COP17!

Video Interview: Arame Tall, ACCFP Alumni, on UNFCCC COP17

Jessica Boesl — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:11:13 +0000

Arame Tall was one of six alumni of the African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP) selected to particpate in the UNFCCC COP17, held 28 November – 9 December 2011 in Durban, South Africa. Ms. Tall was a 2009/2010 Policy Fellow who completed her Fellowship at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), in Dakar, Senegal.

More information about Arame Tall and her Policy Fellowship.

View more videos uploaded by the International START Secretariat.

Click here to check out photos from COP17!

START Brochure

Lauren Gibbons — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:09:28 +0000

START, founded in 1992, promotes research-driven capacity building to advance knowledge generation and sharing on global environmental change issues. Our work is carried out by regionally based centers in Africa and Asia-Pacific, together with the International START Secretariat based in Washington, DC.

We promote capacity building through activities that include grants and fellowships for research and assessments, curricula development, advanced training institutes, and multi-stakeholder dialogues that promote outreach to decision makers. START’s work advances science and strengthens interactions between science, policy, and practice in the areas of disaster risk reduction, land-use/land-cover change, biodiversity conservation, urban development, human health, water resources management, agriculture and food security and regional climate modeling and climate services.

On an annual basis, START engages over 1,000 scientists, policymakers, and practitioners from developing country in its research, training and communications/outreach programs.

The brochure covers 2010-2011 Programs and Activities in:
Agriculture & Food Security

Innovations in Education

African Climate Change Fellowship Program (ACCFP)

Communication

National Level Science-Policy Dialogues on Climate Change and Development

Climate Change & Cities