The Capacity Building Department of the West African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Land Use, WASCAL, has organized a five-day intensive workshop on climate change impact, mitigation and adaptation for fifteen scientists drawn from the ministries and government departments of environment, agriculture, water resources, meteorology, space and environmental protection agencies from Ghana, Benin, Togo and Nigeria.

The workshop which was organized at the headquarters of WASCAL in Accra is the first in the series of workshops lined-up by WASCAL under the sponsorship of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany (BMBF).

The workshop was part of WASCAL’s strategic vision to extend its capacity building beyond its graduate studies programmes run in partnership with ten lead universities in West Africa.

In an interview with Professor Janet Adelegan, WASCAL’s Director of Capacity Building Programme and workshop coordinator at WASCAL, she highlighted the key objectives of the workshop;

 “The essence of this workshop was to educate West African managers and scientists in relevant government agencies on the implications of climate change variability on livelihood, adaptation and mitigation strategies in West Africa”

“Also, the workshop was designed to promote linkage between research and practice, create an environment for the exchange of experience, identify research priorities, and highlight capacity building needs for policy research in Climate Science in West Africa”. She expounded.