Climate for development in Africa (ClimDev) – climate sciences and services for Africa. Strategic research opportunities for ClimDev-Africa

The purpose of this report is to present the ClimDev Partnership with a much narrower set of strategic research options by which ACPC and AfDB in particular could establish a unique presence in the realm of climate research and resilience planning. As a result, hitherto under-represented sectors and regions would be better equipped to manage risks as well as maximise development opportunities presented by climate variability and change. A gap analysis was undertaken using different sources of evidence drawn from bibliographic metrics, previous research prioritisation exercises, peer-reviewed and grey literature, meta-analysis of web-based material, conference proceedings, ClimDev reports and proposal short-listing, an inventory of climate data requests, case studies and consultations with African experts. Six research opportunities are proposed for consideration by ClimDev.