Annual Conference and workshop Highlights

Science, Technology and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) in conjunction with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) held a three-day conference and workshop – from the 19 - 21 November 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa – to discuss these issues under the theme Science, Technology and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa.

The conference and workshop brought together fifty eight delegates representing various stakeholder groups, institutions and professions, resource persons and development partners in various fields of expertise within and outside Africa. The delegates deliberated on how African countries can tap and adapt the existing science and technology (S&T) policies and innovation processes to respond to the effects of climate change in the continent. The workshop was also expected to strengthen skills, learning capacities of actors and institutions in dealing with the effects of climate change in selected sectors: agriculture, health, biodiversity, water and environment.

The conference and workshop comprised of plenary presentation of papers. There were also participatory stakeholder dialogues to distill new knowledge garnered from the presentations and generate new ones. Moreover, the discussions raised research issues, needs and priorities requiring attention for improved understanding and capacity of innovation systems actors, science and technology (S&T) policy development, and impacts analyses. The plenary session synthesized and prioritized emerging research and policy issues and ways that ATPS (and other relevant organizations as well as development partners) can assist African countries to cope with the effects of climate change and assist vulnerable communities to adapt to these imminent climatic changes in Africa.Read More