Promoting advancing climate resilience and environmental security in West Africa: the final act of the ACRES-WA project coordinated by the Sant'Anna School with the support of the MAECI takes place in Rome
The Research Policy Forum of the project ‘ACRES-WA: Advancing Climate Resilience and Environmental Security in West Africa’ will take place on Thursday 6 March in Rome, at the Alliance and Bioversity & CAT headquarters.
The project, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and carried out by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, promotes climate resilience and environmental security in West Africa. Meetings, round tables, reports and debates to present the final results of the project and to reflect on future prospects related to the promotion of climate resilience and the strengthening of security in a strategic area of the African continent.
The interdisciplinary approach of the project
The ACRES-WA project involved interdisciplinary collaboration between two departments of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies: the Dirpolis Institute and the Institute of Plant Sciences. Combining security issues with those of agro-meteorology, the project aims to promote the adoption of customised agro-climatic services to improve food security and prevent agro-pastoral conflicts in a context of socio-climatic transition in West Africa, with a particular focus on the north of the Ivory Coast.
The Research Policy Forum programme
Not only the Ivory Coast, but also the Sahel and its outskirts: these are the geographical areas at the centre of the final ACRES-WA conference.
The day will begin with opening remarks from a representative of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) as project funder, and Francesco Strazzari, professor of international relations at the Sant'Anna School and co-coordinator of the project. Next, Matteo Dell'Acqua, professor of Agricultural Genetics at the Sant'Anna School, will moderate a round table discussion with the participation of distinguished speakers: Hideki Kanamaru (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) with a speech entitled ‘Climate services for building resilience and driving transformation in agriculture’; Julian Ramirez Villega (Alliance and Bioversity&CIAT) with ‘Untold truths climate information services in smallholder farming contexts’; Fiona Flintan (International Livestock Research Institute - ILRI) with ‘Mitigating the impacts of climate change on farmer-herder conflicts in the Sahel’.
During the rest of the morning and afternoon, researchers and collaborators from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies will present the main research results and policy recommendations that emerged from the research, with the aim of stimulating debate with the public. Among the expected participants are representatives of Italian and European institutions, international organisations and United Nations agencies, foundations, NGOs, think tanks and scholars working on African development and security.
During the day, the following speakers will also represent the Sant'Anna School: Mariachiara Boldrini (Dirpolis Institute), Valentina D'Amico (researcher at the Institute of Plant Sciences), Stefania Sellitti (Institute of Plant Sciences), Leonardo Caproni (researcher at the Institute of Plant Sciences), Robel Takete Mikelu (Institute of Plant Sciences), Luca Raineri (researcher at the Dirpolis Institute).
ACRES-WA and AfricaConnect
Due to its trans-disciplinary approach, the topics covered and the expected results, the project is part of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies ‘AfricaConnect’ programme. Environmental sustainability, agri-food resilience and the promotion of peace are in fact topics included in the Africa Connect programme guidelines. The scientific results of ACRES-WA allow us to offer specific training to Ivorian partners and institutions on the dissemination and integration of climate services in agriculture (including advanced forecasting tools and meteorological analysis) and on strategies for managing conflicts related to environmental crises influenced by climate change.
