Maputo, Thursday, 2 November 2023 –The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in partnership with Eduardo Mondlane University (EMU), Santam and the University of the Free State will host the second instalment of the Climate Change and Futures in Africa Conference Series. The conference will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence in Maputo, Mozambique, from 9 to 10 November 2023.
The second edition of the conference is strategically being held in Mozambique because Mozambique is one of the Southern African countries that are most vulnerable to climate change-related disaster incidents.
According to the United Nations (UN), in recent years, changing weather patterns have seen extreme weather events such as cyclones, tropical storms, floods and droughts become more frequent and intense.
In March 2019, Cyclone Idai struck Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, followed in April by Cyclone Kenneth, which left more than 250,000 people displaced and 650 killed. In 2022, Tropical Storm Ana, Cyclone Gombe and other tropical storms and cyclones impacted more than 736,000 people.
For these and other reasons, the HSRC, EMU and partners saw it necessary to convene a regional conference in Maputo, Mozambique, to discuss issues around disaster risk management, climate change, and early warning systems.
The Climate Change and Futures in Africa Conference Series seeks to harness the broader, interdisciplinary expertise of the delegates to build networks as well as discuss the most pressing issues in disaster risk reduction, climate change, and research into early warning systems across the academic and practical disciplines.
Held under the theme, Towards Local Solutions to Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond, the conference will assist local stakeholders, academia, researchers, practitioners and other key stakeholders to gain new insights into sustainable disaster risk reduction and shared learning.
It will also offer policymakers, disaster specialists, researchers, academia, scholars, think tanks, civil society organisations, business, and humanitarian organisations the opportunity to network and exhibit their products, innovations and initiatives.
The two-day conference addresses part of the HSRC vision: to be a national, regional, and global leader in the production and dissemination of transformative social science and humanities research in the interest of a just and equal society.
Papers to be presented at this conference will provide some research philosophy, design, strategies, and methods that should be adopted to contribute towards practical solutions that inform future practice in disaster risk reduction, climate change, and early warning research and practice.
Over 100 delegates will discuss issues such as the greatest current challenges in local disaster risk reduction; the lessons municipalities are learning from the most recent disaster events; and explore new solutions from the SADC and other regions of the world.
The conference will continue its footprints throughout Africa under the umbrella theme, Climate Change and Futures Series.
Ends.
Details of the event
Date: 9–10 November 2023
Time: From 9h00
Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel & Residence in Maputo, Mozambique (141 Av. Marginal, Maputo 1100, Mozambique)
For media enquiries:
| Dr Lucky Ditaunyane, Cell: +27 83 227 6074 Email: lditaunyane@hsrc.ac.za | Adziliwi Nematandani Cell: +27 82 765 9191 Email: anematandani@hsrc.ac.za | Mário Fonseca Cell: +258846901919 Email: fonsecamz@gmail.com |
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#ClimateChange
#DisasterRiskManagement
#SADC
Notes to the Editor
About the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
The HSRC was established in 1968 as South Africa’s statutory research agency and has grown to become the largest dedicated research institute in the social sciences and humanities on the African continent, doing cutting-edge public research in areas that are crucial to development.
Our mandate is to inform the effective formulation and monitoring of government policy; to evaluate policy implementation; to stimulate public debate through the effective dissemination of research-based data and fact-based research results; to foster research collaboration; and to help build research capacity and infrastructure for the human sciences.
The Council conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific research for public sector users, non-governmental organisations and international development agencies. Research activities and structures are closely aligned with South Africa’s national development priorities.
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