In June 2025, Julius Toba Malika paid a visit to the Musul pastoralist community in Northern Kenya to gather insights on how grass reseeding is building climate resilience in this livestock- dependent community. While interacting with the community, Julius learned that reseeding is more than just a restoration strategy. He shares these insights in this blog.
Protected areas, often described as sanctuaries for biodiversity, are central pillars for global biodiversity conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) defines them as clearly defined geographical spaces, recognized, dedicated, and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values (Dudley, 2008, p8).
As part of our academic journey under the African Climate and Environment Center-Future African Savannas (AFAS) program, we embarked on a pivotal excursion to the Lamto Scientific Reserve in Côte d’Ivoire. But why Lamto? Known as a “living laboratory”, the Lamto Scientific Reserve has played a crucial role in ecological research, offering unique insights into climate dynamics and ecosystem interactions in a rapidly changing environment. This excursion was not just about observation; it was an opportunity to connect theoretical knowledge with real-world ecosystems, reinforcing our commitment to evidence-based climate action, conservation, and sustainable development across Africa’s savannas.
From 23rd of February to 1st of March 2025, I had an opportunity to attend the Drylands Summer School in Isiolo, Kenya that brought together master’s and PhD students with research interest in pastoralism in drylands. One of the objectives of the summer school was to debate on pastoral livelihoods through the lens of social, ecological and political perspectives. In the following sections, I explore key issues that arose during the summer school that are often overlooked and those which play a critical role in the dryland pastoral context.
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire
University of Nairobi, Kenya
The African Climate and Environment Center – Future African Savannas (AFAS) commenced in 2021 and is one of the DAAD Global Centres for Climate and Environment. AFAS is a consortium between two African and two German universities and strives for interdisciplinary and international exchange beyond academia by working on the science-policy-practice interface. The thematic focus of the center is nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and biodiversity loss in African savannas.
The project initiative stems from the urgent need to develop sound and robust evidence-based and science-backed strategies to preserve and protect the fragile environments of the West and East African savannas against the combined threats of extensive and diverse land use and rapid climate change. AFAS aims to train young African scholars in the interdisciplinary field of climate change adaptation and biodiversity and to transfer scientific findings into practice, while at the same time reducing the climate and environmental footprint of education, research and international cooperation. The project specifically focuses on the potential of nature-based solutions and of cooperation on the science-policy-practice interface.
Image Film by DAAD