Africa’s Right to Development in a Climate-Constrained World: Challenges and Opportunities for International Climate Cooperation

Event Type
Book launch and expert roundtable

Location / Date
Bonn, 05.06.2023

German Institute for Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

This book launch event on “Africa’s Right to Development in a Climate-Constrained World” presents a landmark publication in Palgrave Macmillan’s Contemporary African Political Economy series. A timely contribution to African agency in international relations, it spells out the bold perspective of a group of African scholars on how to pursue Africa’s right to development in a world that is increasingly shaped by global heating both in in geophysical and in geopolitical terms. Specifically, it elaborates prospective pathways to facilitate a climate-compatible ‘just transition’ across Africa by exploring how to best align sustainable economic development with ambitious climate action in the given global context. Empirically, it builds on and draws from experiences and insights that the authors have gathered from a broad range of projects in research and policy over the past years. It yields an innovative take on how African countries may emerge as proactive leaders in international climate cooperation.

The presentation of “Africa’s Right to Development in Climate-Constrained World” will be followed by an expert roundtable discussion to address pertinent questions for international climate cooperation. These will include inter alia: What are the challenges and opportunities resulting for international climate cooperation with Africa – for African governments and societies as well as for ‘donor countries’ like Germany? What are the political and technical implications for EU-Africa relations and for the implementation of Germany’s emergent new ‘Africa Strategy’? What lessons may be learned for just transition processes in Africa and Europe, especially with regard to current bi- and multilateral partnership approaches?

Programme

Welcome and introductions by the co-hosts

• Dr. Steffen Bauer, Head of the Klimalog project, and Senior Researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
• Dr. Samantha Ruppel, Head of the BMZ African-German Leadership Academy, IDOS

Book launch presentation

• Kennedy Liti Mbeva, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford; Co-Founder of the Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN); and lead author of the feature book “Africa’s Right to Development in a Climate-Constrained World” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023)

Critical appraisal

• Dr. Julia Leininger, Head of Research Programme “Transformation of Political (Dis-)Order”, and Regional Coordinator of Africa-related research and policy advice, IDOS

Expert roundtable on international climate cooperation with Africa

• Dr. Joanes Atela, Founding Director and Convenor of the Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN)
• Birgit Strube, Head, Climate and Development Partnerships, German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
• Kerstin Opfer, Policy Advisor for Energy Policy and Civil Society, Africa and MENA, Germanwatch
• Anselm Duchrow, Head, Cluster Climate, Environment, Water, GIZ Morocco
• Dr. Julia Leininger, IDOS
• Kennedy Liti Mbeva, PhD, Oxford University and ARIN

Facilitator

• Dr. Steffen Bauer, IDOS

Hinweis

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