Collaborating to advance sustainability science across Africa

Through its collaboration with its SSARMO partners, IIASA has strengthened partnerships with institutions across Sub-Saharan Africa to co-produce knowledge and inform evidence-based decision-making. This collaboration aims to support the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), fostering a sustainable and equitable future for the region.

The new special issue titled IIASA and systems analysis in Africa, features an editorial coauthored by IIASA Director General Hans Joachim (John) Schellnhuber; Deputy Director General, Karen R. Lips; and IIASA Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar, Wolfgang Lutz; as well as the editors of the special issue, IIASA Population and Just Societies Program Director, Anne Goujon; IIASA researcher Felicity Addo; and Liaison and Partnership Officer, Monika Bauer. The authors call for a transformative shift in how knowledge is produced and applied to meet sustainability challenges in Africa, outlining five key principles to guide this transformation:

• Fostering intra-regional cooperation by building stronger ties among African countries to share knowledge and develop joint solutions.
• Promoting multi- and interdisciplinary research by encouraging integrative approaches to tackle complex environmental and societal issues.
• Engaging diverse stakeholders and knowledge systems by including local communities, youth, and indigenous knowledge in research and policy development.
• Strengthening the science–policy interface by ensuring that scientific insights are effectively translated into actionable policy.
• Improving evaluation data and methods through the creation of better tools and data frameworks to monitor and evaluate sustainability progress.

This aligns with IIASA's commitment to co-producing actionable knowledge that informs practical solutions tailored to the needs and aspirations of African societies. Key contributions in the issue include:

• Strategies for integrating renewable energy into African power systems.
• Pathways to enhance climate adaptation at local and regional scales.
• Modeling tools to support sustainable land and water use.
• Approaches for managing trade-offs between development goals.
• Exploring the drivers of migration and wellbeing.

The special issue builds on IIASA’s longstanding engagement with African partners through initiatives such as the Southern African Systems Analysis Centre (SASAC), the Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (ISWEL) project, and the Future Africa initiative.

The special issue is now available open access on the Environmental Development website: https://www.sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10KGDMZNX3Z