AU Stresses Use of Science, Technology to Improve Productivity and Mitigate Climate Change

ENA / November 7/2019 Science, technology and innovation are crucial to improve productivity of agriculture and enhance the capacity for adaptation and mitigation of climate change, AU official said today. 

Addressing the 5^th plenary session of AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue on Science Technology and Innovation, AU Trade and Industry Commissioner Albert Muchanga said the impact of agriculture on the physical environment needs to be factored in in a world of climate change.

The “majority of our countries are being adversely affected by climate change due to absence of mitigation and adaptation measures. This in turn translates into weaker resilience and vulnerability,” he noted.

According to him, science, technology and innovation can greatly improve productivity in our agricultural practices and enhance capacities for adaptation and mitigation to the reality of climate change.

The commissioner added that exercising such trends will in return enhance the capacities for poverty reduction as well as overcoming food insecurity and economic growth.

Muchanga pointed out that the launching of Africa-Europe innovation partnership in September this year will foster strategic alliance and relationships between the two continents.

It will also create a hybrid delivery ecosystem that promotes technology transfer and uptake, capacity building and access to markets as well as start-up funding, he stated.

EU delegation Head at the African Union Commission, Ranieri Sabatucci said European interest and the interest of Africa have never been so intertwined.

The new EU-AU alliance is an economic strategy that puts the respective strengths of Europe and Africa to work, taking the ambition of EU external investment plan to the next level.

“It is so for prosperity, economic development and security; it is so for reliance to the effects of climate change and other environmental harm that we human beings reason to be very concerned about, in particular in view of the generations to come,” Sabatucci underscored.

As fruitful example for the effective collaboration between EU-AU, the African Union Research Grants (AURG), for instance, provides a framework for AUC to deploy and to improve research in science and technology so that it contributes to Africa's poverty reduction, economic growth, and social development efforts.