ABSTRACT
The international workshop ‘Natural Resources, Socio-Ecological Sensitivity and Climate Change in the Volta-Oti Basin’, funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung (Germany), was organised by Goethe-University Frankfurt and University of Kara from March 6-8, 2019. It aimed to strengthen capacities of junior scientists from the sub-region, exchange and mobilise theoretical and methodological background from various scientific fields, and to deliver reliable elements for a profound environmental analysis that lies outside the common questions of the academic and civil society stakeholders. In West Africa, increasing population pressure and demand for agricultural land caused the loss of arable land and the decrease of land conservation capacities in protected areas. The complexity of interactions between human and environmental systems and subsequent effects (climate change) has raised international awareness. By the example of natural resources within the Volta-Oti Basin, the participants presented, discussed and distributed new findings that sustainably stimulate the international debate. Young as well as established researchers formed innovative collaborations, and the event at the University of Kara was a truly unique opportunity for all involved not only to discuss science but also to assess best practices for the Volta-Oti Basin.
