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africa 22 regional focus www.iiasa.ac.atoptions ◼ summer 2017 Climate change will likely have negative impacts on food production in West Africa: projections for the region show that crop yields and grass for livestock grazing are likely to decline in the future. But a new study led by IIASA researcher Amanda Palazzo shows that strategic planning by decision makers in the region could be the key to ensuring future food supply. If ineffective institutions and political instability limit investment in agriculture and economic growth, the researchers found, climate change would have even greater impacts on regional food security. The new study is the result of an intense process where researchers worked closely with local experts to develop plausible futures for the region. Then they linked the regional scenarios with global socioeconomic projections developed for climate change research—the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways—and adapted them to provide specific information for West Africa. The study showed that investments in agriculture, specifically to improve crop yields, could lead to greater food production but Expanded higher education in sub-Saharan Africa is leading to a new generation of mobile, highly educated Africans. Yet experiences vary wildly across countries in the region, according to a new book edited by IIASA researcher Anne Goujon. The book explores current trends and future prospects for education in the region, as well as the outlook for the growing number of well-educated people. “The development of higher education could push forward change and innovation, building capacity in sub-Saharan Africa where it is direly needed,” says Goujon. The book provides a timely summary given current trends. Today, less than 6% of the working age population has a post-secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, but the potential for growth in higher education is tremendous: the number of people of university age—18-23 years—is projected to double from its 2015 level by 2050, to 235 million people. The book addresses many questions currently facing the region. For one thing, the development of higher education should go hand in hand with the development of opportunities for the highly educated. This also applies to graduates returning from studying abroad. Yet studies in the book show that some African countries provide far more opportunities for graduates to return home to well-paying jobs than others. Universities in sub-Saharan Africa also vary in quality, but harmonization strategies at the African level and new linkages between European and African universities are paving the way for more consistent standards, improving compatibility between programs and therefore mobility for students and graduates. KL also to an expansion of agricultural area into forest and other natural land within West Africa. However, the region’s productivity gains in the agriculture sector could help to reduce the global need for land for agricultural production: in some cases sparing three times as much land outside West Africa for each hectare of land converted to agriculture within the region. “Food security in the region could improve even under the threat of climate change if the region takes a coordinated and long-term approach to investment and development,” says Palazzo. KL Further info Goujon A, Haller M, & Kmet BM (2017). Higher Education in Africa: Challenges for Development, Mobility and Cooperation. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/14225]. Anne Goujon goujon@iiasa.ac.at Higher education connects sub-Saharan Africa to the world Adapting to climate change in West Africa Further info Palazzo A, Vervoort JM, Mason-D’Croz D, Rutting L, Havlik P, Islam S, Bayala J, Valin H, et al. (2017). Linking regional stakeholder scenarios and shared socioeconomic pathways: Quantified West African food and climate futures in a global context. Global Environmental Change: 1-16. [pure.iiasa.ac.at/14465]. Amanda Palazzo palazzo@iiasa.ac.at