Applications Open - AFAS Master's Programme
The African Climate and Environment Centre – Future African Savannas (AFAS) is now accepting applications for fully funded Master's fellowships!
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Meet our students
Are you curious about our first cohort of PhD and Master students? Click on 'Read more' to learn more about the expertise and topics of interest of our young talents.
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About
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.
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Our mission
Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation: linking science, policy and practice
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Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
“Nature-based solutions” (NbS) involve working with and enhancing nature to help address societal challenges, such as climate change adaptation, food security or natural disasters, by working with ecosystems and the services they provide.
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Welcome to AFAS

Nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation: linking science, policy and practice 

Latest News
Events

AFAS Knowledge Exchange, Engagement & Dissemination Week 2025: Strengthening Collaborative Research in Nairobi

The AFAS Knowledge Exchange, Engagement & Dissemination week took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 13–17 October 2025. During this week, the AFAS team from the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, and Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny convened at the University of Nairobi (UoN). The event provided an exciting platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and engagement among partners, fellows, and stakeholders.

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News

Call for Applications -AFAS Master’s Programme (2026 Intake)

The African Climate and Environment Centre – Future African Savannas (AFAS) is now accepting applications for fully funded Master’s fellowships!

AFAS supports highly motivated graduates who are interested in addressing climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development in African savannas through Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and science–policy–practice interfaces.

🎓 18 fully funded fellowships available
📍 Study locations:
University of Nairobi (Kenya)
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
🔎 Thematic focus areas: Water | Agriculture | Energy | One Health | Biodiversity

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Blog

When Elders Govern Grass: Indigenous Adaptation in the Amboseli Ecosystem, Kenya

Climate change constitutes one of the most pressing global challenges of our time. Its impacts fall disproportionately upon indigenous communities who have contributed least to its causes yet possess generations of adaptive knowledge (Dorji et al., 2024). Across Africa, dryland ecosystems cover 40% of the continent’s landmass and support nearly 50% of its population, making pastoral communities particularly vulnerable to climate variabilities (FAO, 2018). This blog draws on insights from my AFAS-funded fieldwork to examine how Indigenous Knowledge systems shape adaptation strategies among Maasai pastoralists in the Kitenden-Amboseli ecosystem, focusing on indigenous grass reserves as a Nature-based Solution for climate adaptation.

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Blog

From Restoration Goal to Socioeconomic Prominence: Sustainability Lessons from Cashew Expansion in Northern Côte d’Ivoire Savannas

When I arrived in Korhogo, northern Côte d’Ivoire, for my master’s fieldwork under the African Climate and Environment Center – Future African Savannas Programme (AFAS), I expected to study agroforestry diversity in typical savanna landscapes. In Côte d’Ivoire, Korhogo is considered one of the pioneering regions of agroforestry, a Nature-based Solution that integrates trees and crops on the same land to enhance biodiversity, improve soils, and strengthen resilience.

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To our workshops & events

AFAS on Bluesky

Meet the students

Annet Margaret Nabirye
Annet Margaret Nabirye

University of Nairobi, Kenya

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Bruno Emmanuel Diarra

Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire

Cynthia
Cynthia Akinyi Onyolo

University of Nairobi, Kenya

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Focus

Nature-based Solutions (NbS)

Science-Policy-Practice Interface (SPPI)

African Savannas

About us

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.

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Photo copyright: DAAD/Stefan Zeitz

Our mission

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.

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Global Centres for Climate and Environment as well as for Health and Pandemic Prevention

Image Film by DAAD