The UCAR Africa Initiative: Recent Insights, Challenges, and Opportunities to Foster Collaborative Research for Environmental Sustainability

Publication Date

3-26-2026

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Volume

107

Issue

3

DOI

10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0118

First Page

718

Last Page

741

Abstract

Africa is increasingly being exposed to the negative impacts of climate and environmental change, while having less capacity to respond compared to other continents. The vulnerability partially results from unprecedented demographic growth, urbanization, and industrialization. However, the continent has still largely been underserved by the broader Earth system science (ESS) community, as evidenced by the limited amount of ESS data and research that cover Africa compared to other areas of the world. Here, we present the recent University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Africa Initiative that aims to enhance environmental sustainability in Africa by fostering international collaborative research partnerships coled by African scientists. Specifically, we outline urgent challenges and opportunities identified through an international workshop in six areas of ESS, namely, 1) air quality and health, 2) weather, 3) climate, 4) land and water, 5) social science perspectives, and 6) developing equitable collaboration and sustainable infrastructure. We highlight examples of successful partnerships and conclude with recommendations to advance collaborative, actionable ESS research that addresses Africa’s critical environmental challenges.

Funding Number

1852977

Funding Sponsor

National Center for Atmospheric Research

Keywords

Africa, Air pollution, Atmosphere, Atmosphere-land interaction, Climate, Numerical weather prediction/ forecasting

Comments

Full author list: Wenfu Tang, Rajesh Kumar, Anna Del Moral Méndez, Felicity Ahafianyo, Akintomide A. Akinsanola, Agbeli Ameko, Marleen Dekker, Rong Fu, Benjamin Gaubert, Samson Hagos, Cenlin He, Forrest Lacey, Kelly M. Núñez Ocasio, Isla R. Simpson, Kassahun Ture, Christopher D. Wirz, Ronnie Abolafia-Rosenzweig, Emmanuel O. Audu, Shima Bahramvash-Shams, Solomon Bililign, Roelof Bruintjes, Cyndi Castro, Belay Demoz, Ismaila Diallo, Ross D. Dixon, Jimy Dudhia, Abdulamid A. Fakoya, Rebecca M. Garland, Cindy Halley Gotway, Yaoxian Huang, Ata Hussain, Dorcas Idowu, Yan Jiang, Agnieszka H. Kazimierczuk, Peter Lawrence, Danny M. Leung, Samar Minallah, Naoki Mizukami, Israel R. Orimoloye, Paul A. Kucera, Kwesi A. Quagraine, Addisu Semie, Simone Tilmes, Daniel M. Westervelt, Daile Zhang, Zhe Zhang, Helen Worden, and Pieternel F. Levelt

Department

Meteorology and Climate Science

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