The African continent, with its diverse environment, climate and natural resources, is subject to a variety of environmental issues and opportunities at both country specific and continent scales. Issues such as deforestation, degradation, water resource availability and sustainable agriculture are challenges facing much of the continent. With a drive to meet the needs of growing populations under a changing climate there is an acute requirement to achieve this sustainably and without further degradation to natural resources.
UKCEH has worked in Africa for more than 30 years, primarily in areas of hydro-climatic science, sustainable agriculture and agroforestry. In July 2024, we opened our West Africa Regional Office.
Partners
We have Memoranda of Understanding with the following institutes in Africa:
- Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO)
- Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI)
- Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI)
- National Museums of Kenya (NMK)
- West Africa Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL, Ghana)
- Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI)
- South East Kenya University (SEKU)
Projects
- Sustainable Use of Natural Resources to Improve Human Health and Support Economic Development (SUNRISE) (NERC)
- International Nitrogen Management System (INMS) (UNEP)
- African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis, AMMA-2050 (NERC/DfID)
- Improving African Weather Forecasting - Building Science for Weather Information & Forecasting Techniques (SWIFT) (NERC)
- Closing the Global Methane Budget (NERC)
- Global Earth Observation for Integrated Water Resource Assessment (eartH2Observe) (EU)
- Vegetation Effects on Rainfall in West Africa (VERA) (NERC)
- Improving Model Processes for African Climate (IMPALA) (NERC/DfID)
- Lake Victoria Levels Under a Changing Climate (HyTPP) (World Bank)
- Integrating Hydro-Climate Science into Policy Decisions for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Livelihoods in East Africa (HyCRISTAL) (NERC/DfID)
- Taking Forward the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution: Pilot to Determine the Air Quality Drivers for Sub-Saharan Africa (NERC)
- ICP Vegetation (UNECE International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops)
- Open Soil Data Platform (BBSRC)
- HydroSOS
- Nowcasting FLood Impacts of Convective Storms in the Sahel (NFLICS) (DfID)
- Drivers of Resistance in Uganda and Malawi: The DRUM Consortium (MRC)
- Burden and determinants of lung disease in informal settlements in Kenya (MRC)
- FutureDAMS: Design and assessment of resilient and sustainable interventions in water-energy-food-environment Mega-Systems (UKRI)
- Co-Pod: A co-produced application platform to link people and practice to promote resilience in cocoa agroforestry in West Africa (BBSRC)
- An interactive, web-based lake zonation tool for supporting the sustainable development of cage fish farming in Lake Victoria, Kenya (BBSRC)
- MORTEC - Advancing improvement of Moringa species for agricultural use through development of genomic selection technology (BBSRC)
- Nowcasting FLood Impacts of Convective storms in the Sahel (NFLICS)
- C2MA mapping Malaria (British Council)
Contact us
For general enquiries, please see our Contacts page. To discuss our work in Africa, contact:
Associate Director of International Research and Development: Prof Harry Dixon
International Relations Coordinator: María Jarquín