By Chinyere Anyanwu
The Nigerian government and other African governments have been urged to increase funding and support for research on emerging climate change issues.
The call was made at the recently concluded African Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) 2023. Delegates at the event and their governments were reminded that research on issues such as climate-health nexus, carbon removal and green cities across Africa can no longer be pushed to the periphery.
Deputy Director General of Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), Faustin Munyazikwiye, said climate research funding needs the political goodwill of African countries so that they align the research to the specific challenges they want to tackle.
“We can think globally but act locally and find home-grown solutions. We need to establish our funds from our domestic sources before we seek international help,” he said.
Head of Capacity and Field Development at Wellcome Trust, Modi Mwatsama, said African governments need to do a lot of mobilisation for investment in research that is evidence-based and relevant.
“We must encourage our governments to have climate strategies and increase their budgets for research. They also need to work with other stakeholders to make sure the research can help the people they are meant for,” said Ms Mwatsama.
According to a study published in the journal, Climate and Development, more than 75 per cent of funds earmarked for climate research in Africa go to institutes in the US and Europe.
The study says there is already a deep funding deficit in Africa, with less than five per cent of the funds allocated to climate research globally focusing on Africa.
“Of the $620 million that financed Africa-related climate research between 1990 and 2020, research institutions based in Europe and the United States received $480 million while the ones in Africa got only $89.15 million,” says the study.
Ms Mwatsama said this skewed financing of Africa-related research can only be solved by Africans themselves developing a more active approach to research funding and building a strong financial base for research, adding that, “even as we mainstream the health agenda in the climate arena, we need to build a constituency that can articulate cross-cutting issues such as indoor health, clean water, agriculture and nutrition.”
