World Student Community for Sustainable Development

Students from across Africa recently came together with leading scientists in Cape Town, South Africa to attend the 5th EGU Humboldt International Conference on Climate Change in Africa. Many WSC-SD members from Africa (from Cameroon, Egypt, South Africa and Liberia) were among the students who attended the conference.

Students from across Africa shared their research and experiences with climate change in Africa.

A student workshop hosted before the conference gave students the opportunity to learn from leading climate change scientists and engage in meaningful dialogue with students from across the continent. Students presented their work alongside other African scientists during an intense week of lectures, and participated in the student photographic competition in which they submitted photographs under the theme of “African Climate Change: Impacts & Initiatives”. A WSC-SD member from Cameroon, Medard Djatou, won first place in the photographic competition.

The conference was a great success and an incredible learning experience for the students who attended. A Student Declaration (below) was adopted by the participants which will be passed onto the Minister of Environmental Affairs in South Africa who will table the declaration during the upcoming Meeting of African Ministers in March 2009.

Climate Change in Africa

Student Declaration

A declaration written during the 5th Humboldt Conference -
Iphakade – isiXhosa for “observe the present and consider the past to ponder the future”

We, the students of Africa, call on African leaders to recognise the severity of the challenges posed by climate change and value the critical role that research has to play in rising up to meet these challenges.
We therefore call upon African leaders to:
1. Invest in research capacity in Africa. Commit to research funding, invest in capacity building, training and development of young researchers, as well as the necessary supporting infrastructure, in order to promote a strong research culture within Africa to address climate change mitigation and adaptation.

2. Promote a unified policy across African institutions on data acquisition, access and sharing, as well as invest in data collection endeavours, based on the critical value of reliable data series for investigating past variability and formulating models that are of public value.

3. Commit to African and international collaboration through establishing networks for both data sharing and research collaboration. International collaboration is invaluable for building expertise as well as lobbying and fund raising for research.

4. Support the implementation of practical research outcomes which lead us towards low carbon economies and promote sustainable development.
We recognise the following short term actions as pressing priorities for African leaders to:
1. Develop a unified African view on climate change which will actively contribute to the new round of the Kyoto Conventions.
2. Adopt a unified African policy on supporting research and data sharing across the continent.
3. Support and participate in research initiatives, such as the Africa Earth Observatory Network (AEON) or the African Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS), which serve as platforms for conducting relevant research as well as sharing data and other research outcomes across the continent.
4. Encourage immediate implementation of mitigation measures which will guide our nations towards low carbon economies.

We call for a unified African voice in the face of the challenges before us and urge our African leaders to make a firm and lasting commitment to address climate change challenges and to support research in Africa.
Signed on this 16th day of January, 2009 during the 5th EGU Humboldt International Conference on Climate Change in Africa at the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa by the following African students:

Jock Currie, Namibia
Raymond Kasei, Ghana
Odebumni Oluwadamilolo, Nigeria
Ons Oueslati, Tunisia
Aziz Abouabdillah, Morrocco
Kano Tshileo Katamba, D. R. of Congo
S. Urias Goll, Liberia
Tyson Tshibangu Menda, Democratic Republic of Congo
Daniel Nguene, Cameroon
Lucie Djiotang Tchouchou, Cameroon
Eugene Grosch, South Africa
John Decker, South Africa
Cecily Nwokocha, Nigeria
Felicia Akinyemi, Rwanda
Lee-Ann Jacobs, South Africa
Yoseph Assefa, Ethiopia
Walter Maphwangwa, South Africa
Yasin Mahadi Salah, Kenya
Tandai Mariri, Zimbabwe
Hosam Shobak, Egypt
Jacqueline Ntsama Atangana, Cameroon
Bastien Linol, South Africa
Nicolette Chang, South Africa
Vera Hoffmann, South Africa
Anne Ketley, South Africa
Ute Oduol, Kenya
Nawal El Boghdady, Egypt
Ignatious Matimati, Zimbabwe
Medard Djatou, Cameroon
Abraham Dabengwa, Zimbabwe
Thomas Aneni, Nigeria
Brett Kuyper, South Africa
David Adede, Kenya
Roland Sylvesier Mushi, Tanzania
Atanasio Hanhique, Mozambique
Moliehi Shale, Lesotho
Jess Schulschenk, South Africa