Research

Overview

As a part of global efforts to tackle impacts of climate and ecosystem changes, we urgently need to overcome vulnerability of terrestrial ecosystems in developing countries, especially Africa. This research program aims for three objectives by focusing on the semi-arid region of northern Ghana where the change impacts have been severely felt in forms of unpredictable floods and droughts: (1) forecast and assessment of climate and ecosystem change impact on agricultural production; (2) risk assessment of extreme weather events and introduction of adaptive water resource management methods; and (3) planning and implementation of capacity development programs enabling local residents and professionals to utilize the assessment results derived from (1) and (2).

The goal of this project is to propose effective and implementable measures to build an integrated resilience enhancement strategy. This “Ghana model” can potentially be applied across the African Savannah. The findings of this project are expected to contribute to the framework of adaption measures agreed upon at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) and REDD+, the Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets adopted at the Convention on Biological Diversity tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10).

Research Theme

Climate Change, Ecosystem Change, International Development

Organizations

United Nations University, The University of Tokyo

Funding

Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)

Research Priod

From FY2011 to FY2016

Website

http://isp.unu.edu/research/cecar-africa/index.html