Launch event announced for African climate study

Glasgow Caledonian University has won funding to share the testimonies of those hit hardest by COVID-19 and climate change at an international event.

The University’s Centre for Climate Justice has been awarded funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh to demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in Africa and its implications for climate action, as well as the lived experiences of African communities.

The project, Raising African voices in Scotland: Towards ambitious and equitable climate policy, will build upon an existing research collaboration between the Centre and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), and other partnerships with the African public.

The project has been informed by the findings of a recent study that has made key recommendations about how climate change should be treated post COVID-19 pandemic, and will get under way with a hybrid launch event in Nigeria on Tuesday, July 13.

Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the findings and recommendations of the study, gain a copy and first-look at the research report, and engage with an expert panel of researchers comprised from an international consortium involved in the study.

The study recorded the experiences of people in climate-hit regions of Sub-Saharan Africa during the pandemic, with the aim of changing future government and NGO thinking.

The Centre for Climate Justice undertook the four-month project with the PACJA to explore the impact of COVID-19 by compiling case studies from Kenya, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Gabon and Morocco.

Stakeholders from Scotland, Africa, and the wider international community will be invited to attend and contribute to formulating position statements and policy actions that will feature in a consolidated report for dissemination among policymakers and COP negotiators in the runup to COP26 in Glasgow.

You can register for the event here.