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West African Science Service Center on
Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Contents
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News in Brief
1
Graduate Studies Program 3
Research 4
News about Staff and Guests
9
Doctoral Theses10
Publications 11
Press Coverage12
Vacancies13
Glossary
13
Contact 13
From left to right: Dr. Laurent Sédogo, Mr. Wilfried Kraus of
the BMBF, Dr. Lapodini Marc Atuga, ECOWAS Commissioner
for agriculture and Honourable Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the Minister of State of Ghana, who had the honor of cutting the
ribbon to open the WASCAL headquarters.
News in Brief
The months of March and April held many important events for WASCAL as a growing reseach and
capacity building organization. The Inauguration of
the WASCAL Headquarters Building (p. 2) was certainly one of the highlights of the last months.
ded the workshop Populations, natural resources
and rural resiliencies to climate change in the North
Benin, organized by researchers from WASCAL Work
Package 4.1 Population Dynamics and the coordination of the Dassari Watershed in Benin (p. 7).
WASCAL is member of the new reseach project „Invest in Water“ to analyse investment decisions in agricultural water management and resource recovery
and reuse solutions. The project is led by IWMI and
funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Water
Land and Ecosystems (WLE) (p. 4).
High quality rainfall information is the prerequisite
for decision-making in agriculture, the operation
of hydroelectric power production and also urban
flash flood warning. Read more on how microwave
link networks of commercial cellphone providers
can help to gather rainfall information on page 8.
UNU-EHS organized two stakeholder workshops, in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Accra, Ghana respectively, on „Floods and droughts - an indicatorbased vulnerability and risk assessment“. Read more
on page 6.
The first doctoral students graduated in the WASCAL Doctoral Program as well as in the Research
Program. Read more on page 10.
Stay connected and join us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/WASCAL/
676526742384195?ref=hl.
Sixty participants, among them local authorities, development agents, civil society and farmers atten-
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West African Science Service Center on
Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Inauguration of the WASCAL Headquarters Building in Accra
On March 27, 2015 the headquarters of WASCAL was
officially inaugurated in Accra, Ghana. As part of the
ceremony the first graduates of the WASCAL doctoral
program West African Climate System, led by the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Nigeria,
were presented with their graduation certificates from
WASCAL. Representatives of the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS), government representatives of Germany, various Ambassadors in Ghana and
the ten participating West African countries, as well as
partners from universities and research institutions attended the ceremony.
Honourable Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the Minister of State of
Ghana, presenting a speech on behalf of the Vice President Mr. Kwesi Amissah-Arthur.
The move to the new WASCAL building and the inauguration of the headquarters on March 27, in Accra mark important steps in establishing WASCAL as
a regional and international institution in the long
run. As an additional cause for celebration, the first
ten students of the WASCAL Doctoral Program received their graduation certificates. Coming from
different WASCAL countries, the students graduated from the Doctoral Program “West African Climate System” located at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Nigeria, where they worked
on such topics as micrometeorology, climate modeling, impact studies in hydrology and agriculture,
rainfall onset and secession, extreme events such as
droughts as well as rainfall recovery over West Africa. Dr. Laurent Sédogo, the Executive Director of
WASCAL, acknowledged the ten graduates as the
first doctoral students to graduate from the WASCAL Doctoral Program. Ten more doctoral students
from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana will defend
their thesis in the coming weeks adding up to a total
of 98 PhD and 40 MSc Students that will be graduating by the end of the year 2015.
Mr. Wilfried Kraus represented the German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research (BMBF).
Amissah-Arthur, described WASCAL as a very important developmental tool through which science
and education could interface to find appropriate
responses to the phenomenon of climate change
and its attendant adverse effects on the livelihood
of people. „For the millions of people and the subregion, WASCAL is a source of hope that our environment can be managed in a sustainable manner
to ensure the future and the generations yet unborn“, he further emphasized and stressed that climate change is a threat to the basic foundation of
the lives of the people of West Africa as about 80
per cent depend on agriculture. Similarly, the use
of natural resources for their livelihood and agricul-
At the inauguration ceremony for the new headquarters the international organization was honored by high-ranking guests from all WASCAL countries and Germany. Honourable Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah,
the Minister of State of Ghana, who presented a
speech on behalf of the Vice President, Mr. Kwesi
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
ture contribute about 50 per cent of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) of most countries in the region. He
commended the German government for the support it continues to give WASCAL and further gave
assurances that Ghana would continue to support
WASCAL to ensure that the ECOWAS region collectively benefited from its work.
The milestone that was achieved with the commission of the WASCAL headquarters in enhancing the
visibility of science in West Africa was welcomed
by Mr. Wilfried Kraus. The BMBF’s representative
further expressed that WASCAL’s continued efforts
will strengthen the long-lasting cooperation between African and German universities and research
institutions, support working and career options for
scientists in Africa, and strengthen the capabilities
of the scientists and organizations in Africa to manage and to implement knowledge for their own
objective over time.
Following the inauguration ceremony the guests had the
opportunity to visit the new building and learn more about
WASCAL‘s research in a poster exhibition.
Graduate Studies Program
Food Security and the Post-2015 Agenda - Master Student Corin Sinsin
participated in the FSC Summer School at the University of Hohenheim
From March 2 to 13, Corine B. L. Sinsin, who studies at
the Master Program Climate Change and Education in
The Gambia, participated in the FSC Summer School
„Food Security and the Post-2015 Agenda“ at the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Her participation was
supported by a scholarship awarded by the Food Security Center (FSC), University of Hohenheim, Germany,
including the participation in the 2nd International
Congress “Hidden Hunger”.
Corine currently works on ecosystem based adaptation to climate change to improve communities’
resilience to climate change, food insecurity and
hidden hunger. „For my Master thesis, I am interested in how communities and policy makers can rely
on local resources to adapt to climate change and
reorient development of West Africa“, states Corine,
who would like to continue her academic career
after finishing her Master thesis: „After graduation,
I wish to do six months internship in the field of Eco-
Master student Corine B. L. Sinsin during a group presentation at the „FSC Summer School on Food Security and the
Post-2015 Agenda“.
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
system based Adaptation to climate change/climate change education and to continue with a PhD in
Climate change adaptation/negotiation.“
More information on the 2nd International Congress „Hidden Hunger“:
https://hiddenhunger.uni-hohenheim.de/
More information on the FSC Summer School:
https://fscsummerschool2015.uni-hohenheim.de/
Contact: Corine B. L. Sinsin
corinesinsin@gmail.com
New WASCAL-Togo homepage went online
The WASCAL MRP Climate Change and Human Security launched a new website. The website offers
information on the MRP team, vacancies, news and
background information like the featured editorial
note of the MRP director Kokou Kouami: „The future
of the climate is still in our hands”.
You can find the website at:
http://www.wascal-togo.org/.
Contact: Kokou Kouami, PhD
kokoukouami@wascal-togo.org
Research
New Project: „Supporting Investment Decisions in Water and Land Management across the Rural-Urban Continuum in the Volta - Niger Focal Region”
An array of agricultural water management (AWM)
and resource recovery & reuse (RRR) solutions have
been proposed in the Volta and Niger River basins.
These aim to improve agricultural productivity in
different ways. They focus on various points along
the transition between rural and urban landscapes,
or between rainfed and irrigated farming. But are all
these solutions effective and if so, how effective are
they? Which solution should one choose in a certain context as the most appropriate for success?
To answer these and more questions the project
will assess the potential for wider use of agricultural
water management and resource recovery & reuse
solutions in the Volta and Niger river basins.
Researchers are specifically examining four topics:
1.) small water infrastructure for small holder irrigation, 2.) drip irrigation, 3.) safe and productive waste water reuse, and 4.) nutrient and organic matter
recovery from waste. They are analyzing the social,
economic and environmental effects of these interventions - alone and in combination - in the landscape. To achieve this they are mapping ecosystem
services, assessing their benefits and trade-offs and
examining business opportunities and gender and
equity issues. Researchers will be working with, and
supporting, up to twelve masters students, from
Ghana and Burkina Faso, who are contributing to
the project.
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
WASCAL’s focus and contribution within the Project
will be to evaluate the actual or potential effects of
the four selected AWM and RRR interventions in the
delivery of multiple ecosystem services (ESS) in Burkina Faso and Ghana.
Main Funding Partners:
CGIAR Research Program on Water Land and
Ecosystems (WLE).
Main Cooperation Partners:
• IWMI – International Water Management Institute, Accra, Ghana
• College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology (KNUST)
• iDE BurkinaFaso
• Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Republic
of Ghana (Women in Agricultural Development )
• WASCAL – West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land
Use
The project aims are to improve productivity, food
security, livelihoods and environmental health. Producing RRR and AWM investment guides, policy
briefs, technical reports and by conducting a variety
of workshops, training and other key stakeholder
engagement activities, researchers will:
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Enable potential investors (farmers, donors,
NGOs and the private sector) to better target
AWM and RRR investments and other initiatives.
Provide evidence-based guidance to government agencies to help inform policy formulation on sustainable AWM and RRR interventions.
Build local capacity among government institutions, MSc students and others.
Foster increased public-private partnerships
(PPP) and investments in sustainable AWM and
RRR interventions.
Improve adoption rates of these solutions, especially by women, by providing gender-differentiated analysis and identifying opportunities
to overcome gender-specific adoption barriers.
Project Duration:
January 2015-December 2016
Total Project Budget: 699,590.00 USD
Budget WASCAL: 100,900.00 USD
Team at WASCAL:
William M. Fonta (Project Leader)
Bossa Aymar
Safietou Sanfo
Karen Greenough
The Supporting Investment Decisions in Water and
Land Management Across the Rural-Urban Continuum in the Volta - Niger Focal Region project aims to
offer recommendations on what to use where, provide indications of business focused feasibility and
identify successful strategies for expanding the use
and benefits of these solutions. The project is one of
six research projects under the Volta-Niger Focal Region of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land
and Ecosystems (WLE). WLE is a global research program promoting a new integrated approach to sustainable intensification.
Contact
William M. Fonta, PhD
Senior Economist
WASCAL Competence Center
Off Tel: +226 50375423
Cell: +226 64429239
Email: fonta.w@wascal.org
See also: http://wle.cgiar.org/blog/2015/02/22/
supporting-investment-decisions-water-landmanagement-across-rural-urban-continuumvolta-niger-region/
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Floods and droughts - an indicator-based vulnerability and risk assessment
Stakeholder workshops in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Accra, Ghana
The scientific work of UNU-EHS and DLR in work package 5.1 focuses on a vulnerability and risk assessment in the context of climate change related hazards
such as floods and droughts and climatic variability.
Risk and vulnerability aspects are considered in a multidimensional way in order to understand the consequences of multiple environmental hazards and the
corresponding response capacities of rural livelihoods.
Over the last 2 years, we developed an approach and
applied existing tools and methods for an indicatorbased vulnerability and risk assessment targeted at
floods and droughts taking into consideration different geographical and decision-making scales. At
the local level our research aims to understand how
vulnerable people are to the impacts of floods and
droughts and how recovery processes differ from
single to multiple hazard cases.
To ensure that we include the perspectives and feedback from multiple stakeholders in the various steps
of our assessment, we organized two workshops –
one at the Competence Center in Ouagadougou on
January 15, and on January 20, in Accra. with participants from Burkina Faso, Benin including colleagues at the Competence Center and one in Accra
at the WASCAL Headquarters with participants from
Ghana. The workshops follow our initial workshop
in Ouagadougou in 2012 and several local-level
workshops in the watersheds in the course of 2013.
Participants were representatives from the national
and local disaster risk management agencies, Ministries for Agriculture and the Environment, Statistical
Services, Universities and Research institutes, NGOs
and UN-Organizations.
Group work: discussion of risk indicators in Ouagadougou.
Feedback-round on the risk assessment approach in Accra.
between participants centered on adaptation and
coping strategies to enhance and support local capacities in the face of more frequent and multiple
hazard events. In particular, the role and limitation
of early warning systems underlined key challenges
and a need for close collaboration between agencies and the public to ensure effective and suitable
strategies are developed. We also highlighted the
different ways of collecting and categorizing information on past hazard impacts that are currently in
place in the three countries. Access to detailed information on historic flood and drought events is
particularly difficult for small-scale events and there
was agreement among the participants that there
is a need for a common classification template and
common platform where data is brought together.
During the workshops several topics were intensively discussed in smaller groups to help us to achieve tangible outcomes of the workshop to guide
our next steps. This was for instance important for
us to be able to back up the participatory indicator development process used for the multi-scale
assessment with reflections from participants. Additionally, the exchange of ideas and knowledge
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Work Package 5.1: Risk Assessment and Analysis
Outcomes of the discussions show the importance
of receiving regular feedback from stakeholders to
help make our results more useful for them and ensure that we link up with existing initiatives in the
region.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank
the WASCAL staff in Ouagadougou and Accra for
the excellent support on the ground making the
workshops possible in the first place.
Contact:
Julia Kloos, kloos@ehs.unu.edu
Joanna Pardoe, pardoe@ehs.unu.edu
Daniel Asare-Kyei: asare-kyei@ehs.unu.edu
Franz Hummel: franz.hummel@dlr.de
Populations, natural resources and rural resiliencies to climate change in the
North Benin - Workshop
From March 13-14, researchers from WASCAL work
package 4.1 Population Dynamics and the coordination of the Dassari watershed in Benin organized a
workshop on „Populations, natural resources and rural resiliencies to climate change in the North Benin“
at Yatik Hotel in Tanguieta. Sixty persons participated
in the workshop, among them local authorities, development agents, civil society and farmers coming from
Matéri, Tanguiéta and Natitingou. Other participants
came from Cotonou, from Bonn in Germany and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). WASCAL researchers were
represented by Papa Sow and Daniel Callo-Concha
(ZEF, University of Bonn) and Karen Greenough (Competence Center, Ouagadougou).
Group picture: 60 participants from research institutions,
development agencies, local authorities and NGOs discussed the effects of climate change on population dynamics in northern Benin.
Approximately 60 participants from research institutions, development agencies, local authorities
and NGOs discussed for two days the effects of climate change on population dynamics in northern
Benin. The workshop was organized around four
main themes and aimed to give greater visibility to
research activities of WASCAL in Benin and to stimulate discussions and exchange among researchers,
local communities and authorities on strategies of
resilience to environmental and climate changes.
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Rural resilience to climate change in the northern Benin
Local resilience actions versus interim results
restitution
Chaired by the representative of the municipality
of Matéri, the workshop was opened by Adolphe
Sétondji Avocanh, Coordinator of the Dassari Watershed. During his welcome speech he stressed the
importance of a constructive exchange on climate
change effects, population dynamics and the impact of these changes on existing natural resources.
He further presented WASCAL and its objectives, its
centers of interests and the role of the involved stakeholders.
The four themes of the workshop were:
• Challenges of field research in the study of
populations and environmental and climate
change
• Collected data documentary relationship on
environmental/climate change and population
dynamics in northern Benin
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Scientific Committee
Papa Sow, Researcher, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn (Germany)
Boubacar Barry, Director of the WASCAL Competence Center, Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
William Fonta, Researcher WASCAL Competence
Center Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
Karen Greenough, Researcher WASCAL Competence
Center Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
Daniel Callo-Concha, Researcher, Center for Development Research, University of Bonn (Germany)
Kiansi Yantibossi, Executive Secretary U-AVIGREF
N´Sera Midama Parfait, Head of Ecology Service,
Pendjari National Park
Papa Sow (WASCAL, ZEF), who initiated the workshop, emphasized the importance of exchange between all invited actors for a better understanding of
climate change and its impacts on natural resources in the region. He further outlined the workshop
objectives and presented his research on climate
change and population dynamics, where he and his
team focus on social aspects of climate change with
a perspective from the social sciences to find solution-oriented approaches to adverse effects related
to climate and extreme natural events.
The workshop offered an opportunity to present
and discuss the interim research results with the participants and to submit the interim results to critical
examination. The participants gave valuable feedback and supported the research with additional information. After two days of debate the discussions
among participants of the workshop diverged on to
the possibility of an institutional partnership, writing scientific research projects under the umbrella
of WASCAL and future collaborations between scientists, local populations and policy makers.
Read this article in French:
Populations, ressources naturelles et résiliences
rurales au Changement climatique dans le Nord
Bénin
https://icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de/nachrichtenen/populations-ressources-naturelles-et-resiliences-rurales-au-changement-climatique-dans-lenord-benin
Organization Committee
Adolphe Sétondji Avocanh, Coordinator Dassari watershed in Tanguiéta, a.avocanh@yahoo.fr
Jane Maureen Ngonjock, janescorpy@gmail.com
Yasmina Adebi, yadebi@yahoo.fr
Gathering high quality rainfall information using microwave link networks of
commercial cellphone providers - Raincell Africa Workshop
From March 30 - April 2, 2015 WASCAL co-organized
and –sponsored a joint international effort for using
microwave link networks of commercial cellphone
providers for precipitation quantification. The workshop took place in Ouagadougou.
The knowledge of spatio-temporal distribution of
precipitation is of crucial importance for the scientific understanding of the regional hydrological
cycle and for sustainable water management. High
quality rainfall information is the prerequisite for
e.g. decision making in agriculture, the operation
of hydroelectric power production and also urban
flash flood warning. Installation- and maintenance
Raincell Africa: WASCAL co-organized and –sponsored a
joint international effort for using microwave link networks
of commercial cellphone providers for precipitation quantification.
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
costs in combination with limited financial abilities
make it more and more difficult for national meteorological and hydrological services to provide precipitation information in requested high spatial and
temporal resolution on a country wide scale, particularly in West Africa.
It is the microwave links operated by commercial
cellphone providers that may allow now for highly
valuable complementary precipitation information:
the attenuation occurring between emitted and received power at the link antennas highly correlates
with precipitation intensity along the link-paths.
Advantage is that the technical infrastructure, i.e.
the MW-link network, is already in operation and
maintained by the companies. While data retrieval
techniques and respective algorithm development
has proceeded in Europe and the Near East in the
last years, great potential is particularly seen in the
general data scarce region of West Africa. WASCAL
has now co-sponsored and organized a 4-day workshop in Ouagadougou on this technique, jointly
with experts from the University of Ouagadougou,
Germany (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and
University of Augsburg), France (IRD and GET), The
Netherlands (University of Wageningen and KNMI),
Israel (Tel Aviv University), and Switzerland (EAWAG), forming jointly the Raincell Africa initiative.
87 students, scientists and met service representatives from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Senegal,
Niger, Mali, Togo, Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon and the US followed the
scientific presentations of the international experts
and a 2 day training course offered by the experts
from KIT, University of Wageningen and KNMI. Topics included the physics of microwave attenuation,
the detection of wet and dry periods under a noisy
received signal level, and the explicit rain rate estimation. Further focus was set on the effect of wet
antennas and the spatial interpolation of individual
link information. Algorithms were based on two public domain and open source programming languages, namely Python and R. It is particularly the use
of these free open source software environments
that can foster a wide distribution and application
of the tools at West African universities, research institutes, met services or climate service centers like
Christian Chwala and Felix Keis of KIT Campus Alpin teaching
Python based algorithms for the estimation of precipitation
from microwave attenuation between cellphone links.
WASCAL. First MW-link attenuation data were already made available from TELECEL to the University of
Ouagadougou. Representatives of the participating
cellphone company TELMOB/ONATEL started now
to elaborate further steps jointly with WASCAL and
the University of Ouagadougou to realize an automatic and even countrywide data access, -analysis
and -use.
Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann and Dr. Boubacar Barry,
WASCAL, organizing committee of the Raincell Africa Workshop.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann,
harald.kunstmann@kit edu
News about Staff and Guests
WASCAL Administration at ZEF: Haik Gregorian
and Sarah Verleysdonk are the new contact persons regarding the WASCAL financial administration at ZEF, Bonn. They are succeeding Sabine Aengenendt-Baer, who, while she will be staying at ZEF, is
stepping back from WASCAL. Both Sarah and Haik
have been involved in WASCAL for some time and
are looking forward to continue working together
with all of you.
You can reach Sarah (verleysd@uni-bonn.de) and
Haik (hgregor@uni-bonn.de) via email and telephone 0049 228 73-1765 / -1917, respectively.
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West African Science Service Center on
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Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
WASCAL celebrates the graduation of the first doctoral students in the
Graduate and the Research Program
The first ten doctoral students of the WASCAL Graduate Program “West African Climate System” defended their theses at the Federal University of Akure,
Nigeria. The program there is headed by Jermone
Omotosho, a Professor of meteorology. The students worked on such topics as micrometeorology,
climate modeling, impact studies in hydrology and
agriculture, rainfall onset and secession, extreme
events such as droughts as well as rainfall recovery over West Africa. They were presented with their
graduation certificates at the inauguration of the
WASCAL headquarters by Honourable Elvis AfriyieAnkrah, the Minister of State of Ghana.
The first doctoral student to graduate within the
Core Research Program also defended his thesis in
March 2015. Moussa Waongo‘s research on „Optimizing Planting Dates for Agricultural Decision-Making
under Climate Change over Burkina Faso/West Africa“ was supervised by Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann
at the University of Augsburg. Moussa will continue
his work at the Meteorological Service in Burkina
Faso, where he will return already by mid-April.
Doctoral Theses
Akinseye, Folorunso 2015. Factoring Climate
change and Variability into Crop model for enhancing sorghum performance in the West Africa semi-Arid Tropics. Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor: Dr. Pierre Sibry Traore).
Bamba, Adama 2015. Influence of Land Use
Change on Rainfall Spatio-Temporal Variability
over West Africa in the Context of Vegetation
Re-greening. Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of
Akure (Supervisor: Dr. Arona Diedhiou).
Annor, Thompson 2015. Potential Impacts of Climate Variability and Change on Hydrology and
Water Resource over the Volta Basin. Doctoral
Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor Dr.
Benjamin L. Lamptey).
Diasso, Ulrich Jacques 2015. Impacts of Climate Change and Reforestation on Droughts over
West Africa Using Regional Climate Models. Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor:
Dr. B.J. Abiodun).
Awotuse, Ayoola Olamitomi 2015. Evaluation of
the Seasonal Variability of Evapotranspiration
using Micro-Meteorological Observation and
Remote Sensing Techniques in Ghana and Burkina-Faso. Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor: Dr. E.C. Okogbue).
Quansah, Emmanuel 2015. Estimation of Land
Surface-Atmosphere Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Exchanges over Tropical Savannah Ecosystems.
Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor: Dr. A.A. Balogun).
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West African Science Service Center on
Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Mounkaila Saley, Moussa 2015. Niger Impacts of
Climate Change and Reforestation on Rainfall
Onset and Cessation over West Africa Using Regional Climate Models. Doctoral Thesis. Federal
Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor: Prof. J.A. Omotosho).
Call for Contributions
Wouldn´t it be nice and helpful to have an attractive and informative volume at hand by
end 2015 that allows students and West African
stakeholders to get an overview on WASCAL research findings? Let´s start working on a compilation based on short modular chapters (which
could also stand alone as 8 page Policy Brief and
be used for various compilations).
Niang, Coumba 2015. Influence of Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) on Rainfall Variability over
West Africa at Intraseasonal Timescale. Doctoral
Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor: Dr.
A.T. Gaye).
Edition 1: “Social impact of climate change in
West Africa. A selection of case studies” (Eds:
Irit Eguavoen and who?)
Sanogo, Souleymane 2015. Empirical Analysis of
the Recent Rainfall recovery in West Africa. Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor:
Prof. J.A. Omotosho).
Format of chapter: max. 2000 words, heading
incl. easy to read key messages (200 words),
incl. key policy recommendations (200 words),
incl. further reading (1-3 references), about the
author (50 words + email), with informative graphics and beautiful pictures, logo of your home
institute, your funding agency.
Toure, N‘Datchoh Evelyne 2015. West Africa Aerosols and their Impacts on Regional Climate. Doctoral Thesis. Federal Univeristy of Akure (Supervisor:
Dr. Konare Abdourahamane).
Waongo, Moussa 2015. Optimizing Planting Dates
for Agricultural Decision-Making under Climate
Change over Burkina Faso/West Africa. University of Augsburg (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann).
If you are interested to join as author, team of
authors or editor, please send a brief note of interest to Irit Eguavoen. eguavoen@uni-bonn.de
Publications
Asare-Kyei, D.K., Kloos, J., and F.G. Renaud 2015.
Multi-scale participatory indicator development approaches for climate change risk assessment in West Africa. International Journal of
Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 11, Pages 13-34.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S2212420914000995
Badmos, B.K., Villamor, G.B., Agodzo, S.K., and S.N.
Odai 2014. Multi-agent simulation approach on
the impact of agricultural land-use change adaptation strategy (farm credit) on farm household
livelihood in semi-arid Ghana. Paper presented
at Winter Simulation Conference 2014, Savannah,
Georgia, USA. 7-10 December, 2014.
fect on two maize varieties in Northern Region
of Ghana. Global Advanced Research Journal of
Agricultural Science, Volume 4, Issue 3, Pages 145–
155. Available online at http://garj.org/garjas/abstract/2015/March/Demba%20et%20al.html
Dreier, V., and P. Sow 2015. Bialaba Migrants from
the Northern of Benin to Nigeria, in Search of
Productive Land—Insights for Living with Climate Change. Sustainability, Volume 7, Issue 3, Pages
3175–3203. DOI: 10.3390/su7033175.
Emmanuel, N., Mathew, E.I.S., Benjamin, N.K., Okhimamhe, A.A., Thomas, B.T. and O.O. Francis 2015.
Assessment of Trace Gas Emissions From Wild
Fires in Different Vegetation Types in Northern
Ghana: Implications for Global Warming. ENRR,
Volume 5, Issue 2, DOI: 10.5539/enrr.v5n2p37.
Demba, T., Webber, H., Agyare, W.A., Fosu, M., Naab,
J., and T. Gaiser 2015. Modelling heat stress ef11
West African Science Service Center on
Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Press Coverage
Climate Change Center inaugurated in Ghana - Ghana News Agency (GNA), March 28, 2015
http://www.ghananewsagency.org/science/climate-change-centre-inaugurated-in-ghana--87623
Climate Change Center inaugurated in Ghana - Mc Modern Ghana, March 28, 2015
http://www.modernghana.com/news/607795/1/climate-change-centre-inaugurated-in-ghana.html
Bonner Expertise gegen den Klimawandel. In Ghana wurde die Zentrale des Klimaforschungszentrums WASCAL ingeweiht - General-Anzeiger, March 31, 2015 (print)
WASCAL graduates 10 PhD students - The Nation, April 1, 2015
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/wascal-graduates-10-phd-students/
Suivi des pluies: Rain Cell Africa veut expérimenter une nouvelle technique en Afrique
- LeFaso, April 7, 2014
http://www.lefaso.net/spip.php?article64124
Not macht erfinderisch: deutsch-afrikanische Klimaforschung - Deutsche Welle, April 9, 2015
http://www.dw.de/not-macht-erfinderisch-deutsch-afrikanische-klimaforschung/a-18367353
and in Chinese: http://www.dw.de/%E5%9B%B0%E5%A2%83%E4%BF%83%E7%94%9F%E5%8F%91
%E6%98%8E%E5%BE%B7%E5%9B%BD%E5%92%8C%E9%9D%9E%E6%B4%B2%E5%90%88%E4%B
D%9C%E5%BC%80%E5%B1%95%E6%B0%94%E5%80%99%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/a-18376724
L. Sédogo et R. Zougmouré : au Sahel, agriculture et changement climatique vont de pair depuis
des années - cirad, April 16, 2015
http://www.cirad.fr/actualites/toutes-les-actualites/articles/2015/questions-a/sedogo-zougmoure-ausahel-agriculture-et-changement-climatique
UCAD: un programme doctoral en économie du changement climatique à la FASEG
- SeneWeb.com, April 17, 2015
http://seneweb.com/news/Education/ucad-un-programme-doctoral-en-economie-d_n_152965.html
UCAD: un programme doctoral en économie du changement climatique à la FASEG
- Agence de Presse Senegalaise, April 17, 2015
http://www.aps.sn/articles.php?id_article=141278
L‘afrique Face Aux Changements Climatiques Table Ronde - dailymotion.com, April 2015
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2n4qi0_l-afrique-face-aux-changements-climatiques-table-ronde-1_tv
Table ronde sur les changements climatiques en Afrique - dakaractu.com, April 2015
http://www.dakaractu.com/Table-ronde-sur-les-changements-climatiques-en-Afrique_a88323.html
Journal Télévisé 20H de la RTS1 - April 22, 2015 (French)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHMTw7OPYZ4#t=48m05s
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West African Science Service Center on
Climate Change and Adapted Land Use
Internal Newsletter No. 11, April 2015
Vacancies
Director of Research
https://icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de/nachrichten-en/vacancy-director-of-research
Director of Capacity Building
https://icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de/nachrichten-en/vacancy-for-director-department-of-capacity-building-2
6 MSc thesis opportunities: Population Dynamics
https://icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de/nachrichten-en/6-msc-thesis-opportunities-population-dynamics-1
6 MSc. Fellowship at the „Invest in Water“ Project
https://icg4wascal.icg.kfa-juelich.de/nachrichten-en/msc-fellowship-invest-in-water-project
Glossary
CC - The WASCAL Competence Center
CC & ALU - Master Program Climate Change and
Adapted Land Use, Federal University o Technology,
Minna, Nigeria.
CRP - WASCALs Core Research Program
DEG - Data Management Executive Group
DMP - Data Management Plan
GRP - WASCAL Graduate Research Program: Individual WASCAL graduate programs to support and
facilitate academic education, each based at a West
African lead university.
GSP - WASCAL Graduate Studies Program: Supports and facilitates the Graduate Research Programs. Housed at the Graduate Studies Department in Accra.
MRP - WASCAL Master Research Program
RWG - Research Data Management Working Group
WADI - WASCAL Data Infrastructure
WP - Work Package: Thematic research modules of the Core Research Program
Contact
If you have questions or suggestions regarding the newsletter or are part of the WASCAL-Network and
would like to obtain this newsletter, please contact Jelana Vajen, WASCAL PR Officer.
The next issue of the newsletter will be published in June 2015. Deadline for contributions is
Sunday May 31, 2015. Please send your contributions to Jelana at press@wascal.org.
WASCAL
Visit our Website: www.wascal.org
Or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WASCAL/676526742384195?ref=hl
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