Transforming Africa’s Climate Change Research Landcape

This podcast discusses the financial landscape of climate change research concerning Africa. It analyses a substantial database of research grants from 1990 to 2020, revealing that a disproportionately small fraction of global climate research funding targets Africa, despite the continent's high vulnerability to climate change. Most of this funding originates from and is received by institutions in Europe and North America, with African institutions receiving only a small percentage. The research also investigates thematic priorities, noting a greater focus on climate impacts and adaptation over mitigation, and an uneven geographical distribution of funding across African nations, often aligning with former colonial ties rather than climate vulnerability. The podcast then reflects on approaches, that can help overcome these challenges, including decolonial ones.

The podcast draws on research from the Climate Risk Lab on:

• Funding flows for climate change research on Africa: where do they come from and where do they go? Climate and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2021.1976609
• Decolonising climate change-heritage research, Nature Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01279-8
• Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology, Nature, Ecology & Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01460-w