The Federal Republic of Germany has just released a €10 million grant to support Southern African countries in their daily fight against climate change. The money will be donated to the Scientific Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management in Southern Africa (SASSCAL).
This financial support will enable research and capacity building projects in the domain of climate change to be carried out in the field. The countries concerned by this financial support are as follows: Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia. According to SASSCAL, thanks to this grant, “project implementation will cover those countries that have been severely affected by the effects of climate change: drought, floods and cyclones.” Research on climate-related issues will provide decision-makers with the information they need to develop climate change adaptation policies.
The first phase of the research and capacity development programme implemented within Sasscal cost €23.8 million. Implemented in 2012, the initiative has supported 88 research projects on various themes such as climate, water, agriculture, biodiversity and forestry. The German grant is the second phase of this programme.
Sasscal is a sub-regional research centre with just over 500 members from 80 non-governmental and governmental academic institutions. The centre supports research on climate change adaptation and sustainable land management. It provides products, services and information for decision-making and contributes to the creation of a knowledge-based society through capacity-building programmes.
Luchelle Feukeng