Image
CLIMAFRI project partners at the kick-off event.
CLIMAFRI project looks back on last six months in its first newsletter
Last year involved plenty of highlights for the CLIMAFRI project. In June 2019, the project team held its kick-off event in Benin and Togo to mark the start of the three-year endeavour to co-develop and co-implement adaptation strategies for sustainable management of flood risk and natural resources in the transboundary Lower Mono River catchment. Since then, they have organised a series of workshops, studied one of the most severe floods in the region in recent years, and presented their work at COP25 in Madrid.
The work of the CLIMAFRI project team started in April 2019, with an official project launch in June in Benin and Togo in the form of a week-long field trip in the Lower Mono River catchment area. This field trip served as a way for the project consortium, consisting of 5 German and 5 West African organizations, to get to know the research area as well as each other. The trip included an introduction day in Lomé, Togo, a field trip to the Mono River basin, and a workshop with the stakeholders. The kick-off week proved to be a successful starting point to in-depth discussions on the project aims, and a knowledge exchange between the project partners and stakeholders.
In October 2019, the Mono River basin experienced one of its most severe flooding events in recent years. The CLIMAFRI team was present to study the consequences of the floods first-hand, and to conduct workshops to identify key drivers of vulnerability and risk in collaboration with local communities. Additionally, the team also conducted a stakeholder workshop in Benin, where they worked with key actors to identify risks, exposed elements, and drivers of vulnerability to flooding.
The CLIMAFRI team closed its first year by presenting the project at the 25th UN climate change conference (COP25) in Madrid. At a side event, Yvonne Walz (CLIMAFRI Project Lead), Dr. Karsten Hess (BMBF) and Akpamou Kokouvi Gbétey (Ministry of Environment, Togo) introduced the project and explained its next steps to a global audience.
Click here for the official newsletter and the project description. For more information about the side event at UNFCCC COP25, please click here.