ARUA- Climate and Development (ARUA-CD) held a meeting from 28 February – 1 March 2023 in Nairobi to review its strategic plan in light of its experience in implementing the partnership since it was founded, and as a result of changes in funding for research. The meeting, which also identified collaboration areas for the next five years, was hosted by University of Nairobi Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, which is one of the three ARUA-CD partners, together with African Climate and Development Initiative (University of Cape Town), and Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies (University of Ghana).
Over the last five years, ARUA-CD has investigated how transdisciplinary research-practice approaches can help to build resilience in African landscapes (link), built capacity, capabilities, and skills to collaborate across disciplines and regions, and review the effectiveness of existing masters-level curricula in climate change and development (link) and identified challenges and opportunities for implementing the Paris Agreement in African countries and build institutional, research and negotiating capacity (link). It has also supported attendance of conferences and short courses by researchers and students.
Additional collaboration areas, which will build on the work already being done, include:
-
- Ecosystem-based adaptation/ nature-based solutions
- Marine spatial planning, coastal governance, and sustainability
- Climate change mainstreaming and development, energy transition, social justice, campus transitions
- Climate information, climate services, NDC analytics, climate risk
- Disaster risk reduction
- Urban issues and sea level rise as well as competing use of ground water.
Follow-up meetings will be convened during this year to define the work that will be undertaken, and to explore opportunities for more participation in ARUA-CD by students.
