ANN ARBOR, MI—World-class scientists and researchers from across North America and Africa will soon be putting their heads (and expertise) together to tackle some of the most pressing issues—algal blooms, climate change, invasive species, fragile fisheries, to name but a few—facing the African Great Lakes (AGL).

The AGL are highly valuable natural resources, renowned for their rich fisheries and "biodiversity hotspots." Consequently, they, and the ecosystem services they provide, underpin the welfare and livelihoods of over 50 million people across 10 countries.

This is all thanks to a new major partnership announced today between the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE). The IISD-ACARE collaboration will provide an opportunity for the world’s freshwater laboratory and networks on the African Great Lakes to come together and strengthen science on large freshwater resources and the countries in which they reside.

Despite the recognized importance of the AGL, these vital ecosystems and their livelihood support systems are threatened by the impact of human activity, such as overfishing and pollution at local, regional, and global scales.

To address some of the challenges on the African Great Lakes, IISD-ACARE, will combine the legal and policy expertise of IISD’s vast expert staff with ACARE’s African network of large-lakes experts in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

“We have recognized that no one organization, institution, or even country, can address the challenges that our global freshwater resources face. It is essential, therefore, to strengthen collaborations for leveraging the combined skills, assets, technologies and resources of public, private, and non-profit entities to deliver sustainable instruction, guidance, and research to protect these resources,” said Dr. Kevin Obiero, Chair, ACARE’s Board of Directors.

“Partnering with the International Institute for Sustainable Development will enhance our ability to strengthen science and positively affect policy and management on these critical resources and provide the experience of working with the global scientific community.”

Strengthening the IISD-ACARE approach is IISD’s Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA)—the only place in the world where scientists can manipulate real lakes to understand what human activity does to fresh water. A series of 58 lakes and their watersheds in northwestern Ontario, Canada, IISD-ELA brings over 50 years of freshwater research like no other and policy analysis to inform decision making.

“ACARE has created a world-class, highly collaborative network of experts on each of the African Great Lakes,” said Dr. Matthew McCandless, Executive Director, IISD-ELA. “Resources from IISD and ACARE’s combined networks will allow us to accomplish three long-term goals: strengthening global and regional research partnerships; facilitating existing, and boosting new, transboundary and inter-jurisdictional lake advisory groups; and, strengthening the capacity of freshwater scientists through experiential education and public engagement.”

During its first year, the new partnership will boost the activities of six Advisory Groups that were created to address issues on each of the African Great Lakes (considered to be lakes Albert, Edward, Kivu, Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa, Tanganyika, Turkana, and Victoria). Members of each group are harmonizing priorities on the lakes to advance work on scientific inquiry, monitoring, climate change, and education and training, among other issues.

To learn more about the partnership and programs, click here.

For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Ted Lawrence, Executive Director, African Center for Aquatic Research and Education, [email protected]

Sumeep Bath, Communications Manager, IISD Experimental Lakes Area, [email protected]

About ACARE

The African Center for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE) was established to help strengthen and harmonize science and information exchange through a highly collaborative network of freshwater experts.

This video highlights the role of private sector investments in climate resilient rice value chains in Uganda. It focuses on the experiences of Equator Seeds Limited and Centenary Bank in the Eastern and Northern regions of Uganda.

IISD is implementing the project Private Sector Investment in a Changing Climate: Resilient rice value chain development in Uganda in collaboration with Uganda's Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC).

Climate change poses serious risks to agriculture in many developing countries.

Unpredictable weather can be disastrous for agricultural production, but climate change's impacts extend beyond just production: they affect the entire agricultural value chain, from the quality of seeds through to how food is processed, transported and consumed.

To date, most of the action taken to address climate challenges in agriculture has focused on production alone. However, IISD believes that we need policies and approaches that recognize that climate risks affect the entire value chain.

We have been partnering with the Economic Policy Research Centre to look at what kinds of policies can best support climate risk management along agricultural value chains.

Rice Value Chains in Uganda

Our research focused on rice value chains in Uganda—a priority crop for the Government of Uganda—and found that private sector investment has a key role to play in supporting climate risk management along the value chains. Our question at a recent policy dialogue in Kampala was: What can government do to promote private sector investment in climate-resilient rice value chains?

Based on data since 1960, Uganda is experiencing more frequent and intense droughts and rising temperatures. Climate projections suggest that temperatures in Uganda will continue to rise, and this rise will be accompanied by a decrease in rainfall and more frequent extreme weather events. According to value chain actors, these droughts, floods and changing rainfall patterns are already affecting their rice-related activities, as shown in the diagram below.

Recognizing the potential for increased risk and uncertainty, integrating climate change into policies and strategies related to agricultural value chain development will be critical for Uganda to achieve its development objectives, and the private sector is a key stakeholder in these processes.

Finance for Climate Risk Management

Financial services are a key enabling factor for climate risk management by actors involved in the Ugandan rice value chain. For example, credit allows them to diversify their income sources, while savings provide a buffer when shocks occur. The bank also benefits from their clients having stable incomes, as it means there is less chance of clients defaulting on loans because of climate hazards.

Our project involved a partnership with Centenary Bank, a Ugandan commercial bank that considers risk management a priority and part of its core business. Because of the mutual benefits for them and their clients, they want to build climate risk management into their banking practices by, for example, offering a better interest rate on loans for value chain actors who implement particular climate risk management activities.

Promoting Climate-Resilient Seeds

Like commercial banks, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are well placed to make the rice value chains better able to withstand climate hazards—for example, by promoting seeds that are tolerant to drought.

Our project also involved a partnership with Equator Seeds, a domestic seed company that invests in producing, processing and marketing climate-resilient seeds. For realizing the potential of climate-resilient seeds, Equator Seeds clients need to be further supported to make informed decisions about seed choice to improve climate risk management and business objectives.

Promoting these seeds' benefits in the market will take collaboration between a number of SMEs: agrodealers need to support access to the seeds; local radios need to inform farmers about the seeds’ benefits; and other actors in the value chain can develop demonstration plots near stock shops to show the seeds' advantages.

What Does It Mean for Policy?

For governments seeking to foster resilient agricultural sectors, climate risk management needs to be part of policies and strategies. For climate-resilient agricultural value chains in Uganda and other developing countries, our research suggests that the domestic private sector plays a vital role, and SMEs and commercial banks must be involved in the process of integrating climate change into relevant policies and strategies.

Dr. Annette Kuteesa from the Economic Policy Research Centre speaks to media about private-sector investment in climate-resilient value chains . Photo: Angie Dazé

Read the event proceedings report for "Policy Options to Support Private Sector Investment for Climate-Resilient Agricultural Value Chains in Uganda"​ held February 4, 2016, in Kampala.