The African Synthesis Centre for Climate Change, Environment and Development (ASCEND) has successfully convened the final four BAOBAB synthesis teams in Cape Town, completing the series of inaugural workshops for all BAOBAB teams. These gatherings mark the formal start of their collaborative efforts to generate policy-relevant knowledge that addresses Africa’s pressing climate change challenges.

Each team held its first workshop independently, creating space for interdisciplinary dialogue, the sharing of diverse expertise, and the development of clear research priorities. With all BAOBAB teams now having completed their first meetings, the initiative has established a strong foundation for collaborative, solution-oriented research.

Blue Africa: Evaluating Africa’s Marine Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration Potential and Expected Livelihood

The Blue Africa team, led by Laura Pereira (University of Witwatersrand), Mike Olendo (Coastal and Marine Resource Development), Ibukun Adewumi (UNESCO/IOC), and Clea Abello (University of Cape Town, Post-Doc), aims to ensure that carbon storage initiatives in African coastal and marine ecosystems are designed with African priorities in mind. By synthesising data on mangroves, seagrass, and salt marshes, the team will explore both ecological and social dimensions, ensuring that conservation and climate mitigation align with the needs of local communities.

In addition to assessing biodiversity benefits and livelihood contributions, the project will address gaps in available data to inform national, regional, and international policy. Outcomes are expected to feed into continental and global negotiations on climate and biodiversity, supporting the growth of Africa’s blue economy.

Climate Vulnerabilities, Conflicts, and Livelihood Dynamics in the Sahel

Led by Richard Nyiawung (University of Waterloo), Bouchra Bargam (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Postdoc), and Christophe Béné (The Alliance Bioversity and CIAT & Wageningen University and Research), this team is focused on the Sahel region, where drought, erratic rainfall, and flooding combine with resource competition and political instability to threaten food security and rural livelihoods. By integrating geospatial data, machine learning, and econometric modelling, the project will identify how climate pressures intersect with conflict dynamics, particularly for smallholder farmers.

The team plans to create geospatial visualisation tools and evidence-based recommendations to strengthen national adaptation plans and local interventions. In doing so, they aim to reduce both climate vulnerability and conflict risks in one of the most fragile regions of Africa.

“The first workshop provided a useful forum to distil our focus of research and harmonise our views as a team. Through mutual discussion, we established a conceptual connecting map among climate change, conflicts, migration, and livelihood losses that facilitated an understanding of objectives. An important lesson was to use existing data and craft research questions to directly contribute to policy and decision-making at the Sahel level. Future plans for each thematic group include undertaking focused literature reviews and charting related data on climate occurrences, conflicts, and migration. These exercises are meant to deliver a synthesis report and policy-oriented outputs usable to enable effective approaches to managing climate risk and its consequences on affected populations,” explains Bouchra Bargram.

Green Resilience Africa: Forest Landscape Restoration and Climate Adaptation

The Green Resilience Africa team is led by Kouami Kokou (University of Lomé, Togo), Kossi Hounkpati (University of Lomé, Togo, Postdoc), Katharina Löhr (ZALF and University of Sustainable Development Eberswalde), Shibire Bekele Eshetu (ZALF, Germany), Ousseynou Ndoye (AUDA-NEPAD/AFR100 Secretariat, South Africa), and Diana Mawoko (AUDA-NEPAD/AFR100 Secretariat, South Africa). Their work investigates forest landscape restoration in countries such as Ethiopia, Togo, and Madagascar, where land degradation and deforestation threaten biodiversity, livelihoods, and ecosystem resilience.

Despite widespread promotion of restoration efforts through initiatives like AFR100 and the Bonn Challenge, limited evidence exists on the trade-offs and co-benefits of different approaches. By working across disciplines and engaging policymakers and practitioners, the team will assess the socio-economic and ecological impacts of restoration strategies. Their findings will provide tailored recommendations for sustainable forest management that balances community needs with biodiversity conservation.

“The kick-off meeting was an inspiring experience. Having in one room such a diverse group of people from academia, policy, practice, of different countries, gender and years of work experience, it was a constant chatter, circulation of knowledge and perspectives. It was fascinating how quickly we connected and dived into vivid discussions with a constant mix of French and English, seriousness and laughter. We even went together on a trip to visit a restoration site close to Cape Town, which was very insightful and also met up with another international project group for thematic exchange. The week passed super-fast and left us with high motivation to work on our agreed-upon activities and meet again,” explains Katharina Löhr, HNEE/ZALF (Germany).

UNELD-Africa: Unpacking Non-Economic Loss and Damage

The UNELD-Africa team is led by Edmond Totin (Université Nationale d’Agriculture and World Vegetable Center), Joyce Kimutai (Kenya Meteorological Department), Emily Boyd (Lund University), and Andrew Emmanuel Okem (Deltares and University of KwaZulu-Natal). While economic impacts of climate change are often quantified, non-economic loss and damage (NELD), including harm to health, culture, biodiversity, and social systems, remains poorly understood, especially in Africa.

The team seeks to fill this gap by compiling and analysing data from the past decade to track how NELD manifests across different sectors and regions. They will design a methodological framework to assess NELD, engage with policymakers to integrate findings into national planning, and develop a dashboard to visualise future risks. The results will inform national adaptation plans and contribute to international debates on financing for loss and damage.

With all BAOBAB synthesis teams now having completed their first meetings, the initiative moves into its next phase: generating evidence and recommendations to support more resilient ecosystems and societies across Africa. Watch this space.