In cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and Sicherheitsforschung.NRW.
 

The dimensions and consequences of climate change pose enormous challenges, especially for Africa. The problems are no longer limited to the more direct consequences, such as water and food shortages or environmental disasters, but climate change also acts in particular as a multiplier of the existing danger situation, exacerbating conflicts, creating new threats and exacerbating existing dangers. In addition to making the security and development consequences and threats related to climate change more visible and better understood, it is also important to find solutions and to focus on the possibilities for action of the actors on the African continent.

In cooperation with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the six-part dialogue series will focus on the security and development policy consequences of climate change. The aim is to discuss these issues, which are important for the countries of the global south as well as for Germany and Europe, with high-ranking experts and to raise awareness of their importance in public discourse.

The online dialog series will address different facets of climate change in Africa in a total of six Zoom webinars. After an initial introduction to the basic problem areas with their security and development policy aspects, our experts will focus in particular on water and food security as well as energy and resource security. In the closing event, individual best-practice examples from pilot projects will be presented and further discussed to what extent the lessons learned from these examples could be transferred to other African countries in order to look to the future in a solution-oriented manner and to counter the multiple impacts of climate change in Africa with expertise, innovation and a wealth of ideas.

The organizers would like to thank the participating experts from the following institutions:

Der Klimawandel als sicherheits- & entwicklungspolitisches Problem

15/06/2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm | Webinar via Zoom

The consequences of climate change are increasingly becoming the focus not only of development but also of security policy research. In Africa in particular, there is a particular danger in countries with low economic output, high population density and weak governance structures.

Experts:

Dr. Maria Ayuk
Bonn SDG Fellow at CASSIS

Dr. Melanie Meitzel
Federal ministry of defense

Prof. Dr. Detlef Müller-Mahn
Research leader of "Green Futures" at the Collaborative Research Center 228; Institute of Geography; University of Bonn

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Scheffran
Head of the Climate Change and Security Research Group at the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability; University of Hamburg

Klimawandelbedingte Bedrohungen für die Wassersicherheit

13/07/2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm | Webinar via Zoom

According to studies, more than a third of the people in Africa do not have secure access to water. Despite the UN's global Sustainable Development Goals, many of the continent's countries have made insufficient progress on water security over the past five years. The security and development policy implications are fatal.

Experts:

Prof. Dr. Britta Höllermann
Professor for Geographical Human-Environment Research, University of Osnabrück

Dr. Annabelle Houdret
Research Associate Research Program "Environmental Governance and Transformation to Sustainability", German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Dr. Karen Meijer
Senior Researcher, Climate Change and Risk Programme, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

Tobias von Lossow 
Research Fellow, Sustainability Research Unit, The Clingendael Institute

Klimawandelbedingte Bedrohungen für die Ernährungssicherheit

26/10/2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm | Webinar via Zoom

According to the 2021 Global Hunger Index, around 20 percent of the African population – around 278 million people – suffer from chronic hunger. The prevalence of malnutrition is often a direct result of wars and response to the coronavirus pandemic that have disrupted supply chains.

Experts:

Dr. Michael Brüntrup
Research Associate Research Program "Transformation of Economic and Social Systems", German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Mirjam Harteisen
Policy & External Relations Senior Advisor, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V.

Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim
Director at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn

Afrika und die globale Energiewende

23/11/2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm | Webinar via Zoom

In its most recent annual report, the World Weather Organization (WMO) concluded that climate change poses a significant threat to global energy production. Due to heat waves and drought, there is a lack of water, which is needed for hydroelectric power or to cool nuclear power plants, for example. Extreme weather events also endanger the energy supply infrastructure.

Experts:

Dr. Catherina Cader
Expert in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and rural electrification planning, Reiner Lemoine Institute

Friederike Mathey
Scientific Advisor, Institute for Qualifying Innovation Research and Consulting (IQIB)

PD Dr. Antje Nötzold
Research associate at the Chair of International Politics, Chemnitz University of Technology

Dr. Julia C. Terrapon-Pfaff
Co-head of the research area Energiewende International Future Energy and Industrial Systems, Wuppertal Institute

Ressourcen für die Zukunft. Nachhaltige Rohstoffgovernance in Afrika

21/12/2022 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm | Webinar via Zoom

The African continent hosts about 30 percent of the world's critical mineral deposits. Given the dramatic increase in demand for raw materials in recent years and decades, which is related to the ongoing digitalization and urbanization in addition to the use of new technologies to cope with the consequences and mitigation of climate change, African raw material deposits are therefore gaining enormous strategic importance.

Experts:

Dr. Frank Umbach
Head of Research at the European Cluster for Climate, Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS)

Dr. Zita Zebesvari
Deputy Director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)

Prof. Dr. Stefan Liebing
Chairman of the Africa Association of German Business e.V.

Dr.-Ing. Martin Wedig
Managing Director Association Raw Materials and Mining e.V.

Best Practices in der Bewältigung und Bekämpfung des Klimawandels in Afrika

25/01/2023 | 4:00 - 5:30 pm | Webinar via Zoom

In the final part of the dialogue series "Security and development policy consequences of climate change in Africa", our experts dealt with the evaluation of current pilot projects throughout Africa that contribute to mitigating climate change and its consequences and discuss transfer and upscaling challenges also European-African cooperation potentials and their social and economic benefits for people in both urban and rural regions of Africa.

Experts:

Prof. Dr. Anna-Katharina Hornidge
IDOS, Bonn

Prof. Dr. Rolf Steltemeier
Director of the UNIDO ITPO Deutschland

Jochen Renger 
Head of Department for Climate, Rural Development, Infrastructure;
German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ)

Gerhard Quincke
Regional Manager Southern Africa Region, DVV International

Sebastian Vagt
Head of the FNF Office in Morocco