Mali 2023

Mali

Exploring whether SRM could offset droughts in West Africa

Host institution

Institut Polytechnique Rural de Formation et de Recherche Appliquée (IPR/IFRA)

Grant year

2023

Project summary

West African countries are highly vulnerable to climate extremes such as droughts, floods, and heat stress. The region’s ongoing drought, which began in 2022, is projected to leave over 30 million people in a food crisis or worse – and such crises are expected to intensify due to climate change. SRM could help reduce the risks from global warming, but it is unclear if it will offset the increase in droughts and other extreme events, or whether it will induce different regional climate responses. Dr Amadou Coulibaly’s team will model the impact of SRM on droughts from meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological perspectives, providing regional policymakers and stakeholders with valuable information to support their participation in future international scientific and policy debates.

The team

Dr Amadou Coulibaly

Institut Polytechnique Rural de Formation et de Recherche Appliquee

Amadou is based at the Institut Polytechnique Rural de Formation et de Recherche Appliquée (IPR/IFRA), where he is in charge of courses on basic meteorology, general climatology, and the integration of climate factors into agricultural and animal production systems. He is the scientific coordinator of the doctoral study programme on climate change and agriculture under the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) at IPR/IFRA, and is also the national coordinator of the Community of Practice of Climate Measure, Report and Verification (CoP MRV) Systems in Mali. His areas of expertise include mesoscales and microscales climate modelling using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model.

Dr Komlavi Akpoti

International Water Management Institute

Komlavi Akpoti is a post-doctoral research fellow at the International Water Management Institute in Ghana. He has experience in the fields of spatial analysis, machine learning, and hydrological modelling. He is currently contributing to the scientific development of water accounting, and its application in water resource assessment and allocation across multiple spatial scales to gain an improved understanding of the availability and use of water resources in Africa. He has led eight peer-reviewed publications.

Dr Abdoulaye Ballo

WASCAL (West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use) Competence Centre

Abdoulaye Ballo is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Competence Centre, which is the scientific arm of WASCAL. He holds a PhD in meteorology and climate science, and has experience in regional climate systems and climate modelling over West Africa. He has led three peer-reviewed publications.

Dr Windmanagda Sawadogo

University of Cape Town & University of Augsburg

Windmanagda Sawadogo holds a PhD degree in Meteorology and Climate Science from the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Nigeria. Since 2020, Windmanagda Sawadogo has been a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Augsburg, Germany. Windmanagda works in the field of climate impact research on renewable energy, drought, and related topics. He also participated in the first DECIMAL fellowships with the team in South Africa.He has led three peer-reviewed publications.

Photo credits

Banner: Tanezrouft Basin – Southern Algeria and Northern Mali, Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission Credit: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

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