The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) notes that human activities are the main source of climate change and that the burning of fossil fuels is largely responsible for driving this change. The AR4 has projected that by 2020, between 75 to 250 million people in Africa wpould suffer from water stress as a consequence of Climate Change. But that’s not all. In 2007, the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) made a statement to the African Union Heads of State Summit on ‘Building Science, Technology and innovative capacities in Africa’ on the need for urgent action on Climate Change. NASAC recognised that Africa not only lacks the resources to cope and adapt, but also does not have adequate capacity in Science and Technology to successfully address the challenges of the future.It is against this background and taking cognisance of the deliberations at the December 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCC, in Copenhagen (COP15) that the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the International Council for Science (ICSU) organised a conference in Addis Ababa from 17-19 March with an aim to determine how scientific knowledge and technology can support ways of adapting to and mitigating the effects of Climate Change.

The conference—held under the theme Science and technology challenges for Africa on Climate Change:Post-Copenhagen— brought together 60 scientists, economists, researchers , technology experts and academicians from the continent and its development partners to discuss the implications of the Copenhagen Summit (COP 15). The whole continent was ably represented at the conference. Notably, Kenya had a high power delegation led by Dr Rispah Oduwo, Chief Science Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Prof Joseph Otieno-Malo, President, Kenya National Academy of Science (KNAS) and Dr Wandera Ogana, a professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Nairobi.

There is no gainsaying that Africa, which is a minor emitter of carbondioxide and the least contributor to global warming bears the greatest brunt of Climate Change. It does not help matters that the continent lacks the technological wherewithal to combat Climate Change.

But all is not lost. One way of mitigating the effects of Climate Change is to integrate Science and Technology policies into national development plans as well as allocation of a reasonable percentage of the budget to Science and Technology. Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director, ICTs, Science and Technology Division, ECA, noted that there is overwhelming scientific consensus that the world needs to take urgent action to mitigate Climate Change. She observed that better integration of Science and Technology policy is crucial for effective adaptation to climate Change.

The Nairobi African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) Declaration (May 2009) highlighted technology development and transfer as critical to the achievement of both adaptation and mitigation and identified  specific areas namely hard technologies (e.g. drip irrigation, water harvesting, drought-resistant crop varieties, renewable energy etc.) and soft technologies (e.g. knowledge, systems, procedures and best practices).

According to the UN, Climate Change  is the defining “human development challenge of the 21st century.”

“Africa enters the 21st century facing monumental challenges to its survival and long-term sustainability. At the core of these challenges is the continent’s ability to master Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and successfully apply these forces to address critical problems related to health, food, water and the Climate Change adaptation and mitigation”, Opoku-Mensah said.

While Research and Development (R&D) provides the backbone for adaptation and mitigation, promotion of technology transfer is crucial more than ever before, as the deployment of scientists on the continent becomes critical to addressing Climate Change challenges. While acknowledging the importance of R&D, Prof Oye Ibidapo, President, Nigeria Academy of Science (NAS) said it is time to move from mere R&D to technology innovations if Climate Change is to be mitigated.

 Opoku-Mensah noted that new technologies and practices, supports to the commercialisation, dissemination and widespread adoption of environmentally sound technologies offer the prospect for continued economic growth with reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to focus more on innovations, inventions and patenting. We need to showcase to the world that there are inventions, innovations and technological discoveries in Africa”.

The capacity to identify, collect and share data, use information and methods and build knowledge relevant for Climate Change adaptation , mitigation and food security is critical because of rapidly changing climatic, environmental and socio-economic conditions. ECA has been working with other continental institutions within the framework of the Joint Secretariat of the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to develop appropriate Climate Change response policy and intervention agenda for the Africa region.

In his keynote address, Prof Sospeter Muhongo, Regional Director, ICSU-Regional Office for Africa, said global warming is a reality and Africa needs to invest in low carbon technologies in order to combat Climate Change. He observed that Carbondioxide emissions have accummulated by 30 percent since pre-industrial era in 1750.

Despite numerous challenges, there are signs of encouragement on the continent. The Nairobi-based Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), established in 1975 by ECA, has become a major player in its own right in recent years. It provides capacity building and advisory services for surveying, mapping, remote sensing and provision of other geographical information services (GIS). In the last six years, it has been at the forefront of promoting remote sensing and collaborating with NASA to establish a satellite-based disater early warning system known as SERVIR for Africa.

Dr Wilbur Ottichilo, a former Director-General of RCMRD and current Member of Parliament for Emuhaya in Western Kenya, demonstrates how GIS can be used to mitigate Climate Change, among other uses. In his Emuhaya constituency, Dr Ottichilo uses GIS to determine which areas within his constituency lack infrastructure, or return poor harvests. From the village upwards, the whole constituency is being mapped using the Constituency Development Information System (CDIS) and all projects analysed before any implementation is done.

“Upon my election as an MP, I prepared the 2008-2015 Strategic Plan for my constituency in which Geoinformation technology was to be used. I developed the first ever CDIS in Kenya which I believe will be used as a model for other constituencies”.

According to Dr Ottichilo, the main goal of the CDIS is to create a ‘smart system’ that stores, manages, analyzes, manipulates and displays constituency spatial data for improved development planning & management, food security and poverty alleviation. The system also aims at creating a geoinformation system at constituency level that  comprises administrative and political boundaries and their attributes (population, voters, etc), polling stations and their attributes, detailed GIS database (including geo-referenced photos and videos) of key infrastructure and amenities in the constituency (roads, bridges, schools,  hospitals/clinics, churches, etc), land use / land cover types and changes over time, a food security early warning system at sub-location level and location and distribution of previous, current and planned Constituency Development Fund (CDF) projects.

The project has also created an Internet map service on www.emuhaya.org and a constituency Web site at http://emuhaya.co.ke for wider access and usage by stakeholders, including the corporate and donor community. The project has also set up an operational GIS facility in Emuhaya Constituency, with all schools, hospitals and key facilities being  mapped into Google Earth . CDIS also enables online monitoring of crop development at Sub-Location level using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), a remote sensing indicator that assesses whether  the target being observed contains live green vegetation or not. CDIS is also used to identify community development priorities.

“The transition to knowledge based economy sets new requirements for every sector of our society, demanding new skills, networked practice, innovation potentials from governments, businesses and services, and increasing bandwidth. Given that over 80 percent of public and private planning and decision making processes use geospatial data, governments of developing countries need to recognise and acknowledge the importance of GIS in the knowledge economy and create National Spatial Data Infrastructures (NSDIs) that leverage on modern ICTs”, Dr Ottichilo avers.

Many other organisations and institutions in Africa are also providing satellite data and information for drought and disaster management, including the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD’s) Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC).

Another practical solution for adaptation to Climate Change through the delivery of accurate weather forecasts and early warnings to communities throughout Africa is the Weather Information for All (WIFA) Initiative, a public-private partnership that works to reinforce the capacities and the capabilities of national meteorological services with the goal of supporting local communities worst impacted by Climate Change through the improvement of weather monitoring.

"By bringing together the expertise and resources of different public and private actors, this project may help to save lives and improve the livelihoods of communities in Africa living on the frontlines of Climate Change”, said Kofi Annan, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum. The Forum, together with Ericsson, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), National Meteorological Services (NMSs), the Earth Institute at Columbia University, as well as Zain and other mobile phone operators aim to deploy up to 5,000 automatic weather stations (AWSs) at wireless network sites across Africa over the coming years, in what promises to save lives and bring increased economic opportunity to tens of millions of people.

A Global Humanitarian Forum report estimated that Climate Change is responsible for some 300,000 deaths each year and over US$100 billion worth of economic losses, mainly because of shocks to health and agricultural productivity. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for close to a quarter of these losses, and is the region at the most immediate risk of droughts and floods. Agricultural yields in some areas are expected to fall by 50 percent as early as 2020.

Still, the need to invest in low carbon technologies cannot be overstated.

“We need to invest in low carbon technologies and renewable energy which is more affordable. However, for this to happen, we need to have a functioning research infrastructure. Africa also needs to generate credible data which can be used by the rest of the world”, Prof Muhongo said, adding that the assistance with technology transfer would help Africa move to the next level.

Dr Sizo Mhlanga, Chief, ICT Policy and Development Section, ECA said it is essential to harness the full potential of technological innovation in order to meet the challenges of mitigation and adaptation in Africa and globally.

However, ICTs also exacerbate Climate Change. The use of more ICT appliances leads to increased use of electricity and energy, with sector global emissions set to double by 2020 with increased uptake of ICTs. According to Gardner Consulting, ICTs contribute between 2 to 2.5 percent of global emissions annually, the same amount as the airline industry. E-waste management and recycling - dumping of hazardous e-waste including PCs and mobile phones into the African markets also contributes to global warming.

But when all is said and done, the benefits of using ICTs to mitigate Climate change far much outweigh the possible contribution that ICTs make to global warming.