Dr. Laurent Sédogo new Executive Director of WASCAL
February 19, 2014.
Watch the full interview with Dr. Sédogo on ZEF's <link http: www.youtube.com external-link-new-window external link in new>youtube channel or read the interview in <link fileadmin webfiles downloads news zef_news_29_2014 zef_news_29_englisch_sedogo.pdf download file>ZEF news no. 29.
Dr. Laurent Sédogo, former Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fishery of Burkina Faso, takes over as Executive Director of WASCAL as of today, February 14, 2014. "Climate Change is one of the biggest challenges on Africa’s development agenda"Climate Change is one of the biggest challenges on Africa’s development agenda. I share the vision of WASCAL to put science and technique into practice and on the development agenda in a way that will touch local people. At the same time, WASCAL strives to foster development on the level of policy-making. It will be a big challenge for WASCAL to bring together the local and national levels of decision and policy making regarding sustainable land management under climate threats. That is why I was very happy to be selected as executive director,” says Sédogo.
<link http: www.wascal.org>WASCAL is a West African Climate Service Center under the umbrella of ECOWAS, initiated by the Federal German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in a joint effort with the governments and ministries of ten participating West African countries: Bénin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sénégal and Togo. The planning phase started in 2010 and the implementation phase in 2012. WASCAL is funded by BMBF with a total of 50 Million Euros (until 2016) and coordinated by the Center of Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn. Next to the West African partners the WASCAL research network comprises several German partner institutions.
Data, experts and research infrastructure for West Africa
To enhance the region’s potential for adaptation and resilience to climate variability, WASCAL focuses on three main areas: 1) Strengthening human capacity through education within ten regional Graduate Research Programs set up in partnerships with West African universities. 2) In an interdisciplinary research program, German and West African researchers investigate questions of climate change and land use in relation to ecosystem services and food security in West Africa. 3) A Competence Center which has been established in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, pools scientific data and provides advisory services to politicians and stakeholders.
Vitae
Dr. Laurent Sédogo holds a PhD in sustainable management of natural resources from ITC in Enschede and Wageningen University in The Netherlands. Previously, he had obtained a Master of Science in GIS at Wageningen Agricultural University.
Dr. Sédogo worked with institutions working on land degradation and desertification control at the national level and the regional level (Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS). He held a variety of political offices, starting with the post of Minister of Farmers’ Cooperatives from 1988 to 1990. After completing his PhD in 2002 he returned to the political office as Minister of the Environment and Quality of Life until 2008, followed by the post of Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fishery. He was a Member of Parliament until joining WASCAL in January 2013.
Laurent Sédogo was Vice President of the Governing Council of UNEP and Member of the Governing Council of the OSS (Sahara and Sahel Observatory) and is a member of the Centre for Sustainable Development Initiative.
