Image: Oxfam East Africa [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Underfunding in Africa at odds with continent’s vulnerability, IPCC says
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has slammed the paltry funding available for climate research in Africa as “incommensurate” with the continent’s vulnerability to climate change.
Only 3.8 per cent of global funding for climate research between 1990 and 2020 went to Africa-related research on climate change impact, mitigation, or adaptation, according to the IPCC sixth assessment report’s Africa chapter, published on 28 February.
“Climate-related research in Africa faces severe funding constraints with unequal funding relationships between countries and with research partners in Europe and North America,” the report states.
It adds that “almost all funding” for Africa-related climate research comes from outside the continent and was not awarded to institutions in Africa. European and United States institutions received more than three-quarters of the funding over the period studied.
Kenya got the largest share of Africa-related research funding (2.3 per cent) closely followed by South Africa (2.2 per cent).
The unequal funding relationship exacerbates inequalities in climate research project design, participation and dissemination, the report states. This can in turn curb Africa’s capacity to adapt to climate change, it adds.
The report warns that funding for African climate research has been falling since 2009, showing a downward trend apart from a slight recovery in 2016.
The Africa chapter’s lead authors are based in Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.