EU H2020 FOCUS-Africa project: develop sustainable, tailored climate services

9 December 2020. The EU H2020 FOCUS-Africa project incorporates eight case studies within four
sectors – agriculture and food security, water, energy and infrastructure – across the geographical region of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The main objective of the project is to develop sustainable, tailored climate services.

First External Stakeholder Workshop.

This workshop was a follow up of an Internal Project Workshop (30th  November to 1st December 2020).  For the first External Stakeholder Workshop South Africa has been selected as the theme country. Discussions focused on the food security case study to incentivise a wider local participation.  

• Showcase the state of FOCUS-AFRICA Project to engage with the stakeholders in South Africa that are interested in climate services.  
• Assess user’s perspective of climate related risks.  
• Map the existing climate risk mitigation and adaptation measures and responses.  
• Raise an awareness of climate services tools and knowledge.   
• Identify lessons learned from 2020 and COVID-19.  

See al the videos @ http://focus-africaproject.eu/resources/

Speakers

• 
  Presentation from Buhle Farmers Academy - Title: Smallholder farmer adaptation to climate
  change 
  
  • Nyiko Maluleke is a Chief Executive Officer for Buhle Farmers Academy in RSA. H
  • Wicky Mpumlwana is Secretary General of BFASA, Black Farmers Association of South Africa. 
• Dr. Mary-Jane Bopape is a Chief Scientist at the South African Weather Service responsible for Weather Research, and her research interest is in atmospheric modelling. 

• Professor Coleen Vogel is a Climatologist, Adaptation and Sustainability Specialist based in the Global Change Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand. 
• Professor Francois Engelbrecht is Distinguished Professor of Climatology at the Global Change Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. 
• Dr. Moses Azong Cho is the Precision Agriculture research group leader at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and a professor with the plant and soil science department, University of Pretoria. Climate smart Agriculture in Africa
  
• Nehru Pillay a macroeconomist, joined the Land Bank in 2016 to head a small research unit.