The African Studies Centre Leiden is the only academic institution in the Netherlands dedicated solely to the study of Africa. In 2016 the ASCL became an integral part of Leiden University, as an interfaculty institute, with its own research agenda, library acquisition policy, and teaching profile.

The African Union (AU) Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI) has recently launched the Great Green Wall Award in Burkina Faso for the promotion and sustainable management of land. It is intended to reward the work of media professionals. They must submit their productions…

Positive transformation pathways require many improvements in the governance, finance and equity issues with a particular reference to the youth and women. The Sahel can sustain its sustainable development if transformation occurs in natural resources management. The negative image of the Sahel is a…

More than 4000 young people across 27 West African cities were interviewed to ask How is life in your city?

Land is the foundation for all life on Earth. How land is used and managed influences nature, food, water, energy, climate, and even our health. Today, the pressures on land and the wealth of resources it provides are greater than at any other time in human history. Nearly three quarters of the…

By Carlos Pérez García-Pando and Sara Basart Over the last month, parts of Europe were hit by intense dust storms. First, a massive dust plume that originated in northeast Algeria caused reddish skies in large parts of Europe. Then, dust deposits tinted the snow-covered Pyrenees and the Alps brown…

A new data visualization shows how the climate emergency is converging with other threats to drive new displacement and increase the vulnerability of those already forced to flee.

The 2020 Africa SDG Index and Dashboards Report provides an assessment of where African countries stand with respect to the SDGs and their progress toward the goals, with the additional lens of “leave no one behind.” The report also includes a preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID‑19 on the…

Launch of the Sahel Country Case studies and Regional Synthesis Report: Rural Development, Agricultural Livelihoods and Job Creation in the Sahel Region Time: January 19, 2021, 11:00 – 12:00 (West Africa and Germany time / CET) Location: Zoom Please register in advance for this meeting via https:/…

Lake Chad, in the Sahelian zone of west-central Africa, provides food and water to ~50 million people and supports unique ecosystems and biodiversity. In the past decades, it became a symbol of current climate change, held up by its dramatic shrinkage in the 1980s. Despites a partial recovery in…

2020 was one of three warmest years on record, despite cooling La Niña. Extreme weather and COVID-19 combined in a double blow

The Initiative involves a range of stakeholders, including national governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society who all work together under pan-African coordination to halt land degradation. International partners, such as the United Nations Convention to Combat…

Built on the first volume of this series of the “Good Practices in South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Sustainable Development” launched in 2016 and the second volume in 2018, this year the third volume continues to showcase and expand on how South-South and triangular cooperation is being…

Millions acres of land restored and things are only just getting started. It could be our planet's greatest ever lesson in grassroots-led, ecological development, from people for people.The GGW aims to restore Africa’s degraded landscapes and transform millions of lives in one of the world’s poorest…

Annual report on acute food insecurity and malnutrition published today

On November 2, several projects funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 “Sustainable Intensification in Africa” topic met to share information about their work and benefit from each other’s expertise. The meeting was coordinated by Soils4Africa, a project led by ISRIC-World Soil Information…

If you are someone actively restoring land, we hope that this inspires you to invest in showing the impact of your work. If you are funding restoration, we hope that you will gain a new appreciation for this challenge and recognize why measuring progress is key to success. And if you are a…

The State of the Climate in Africa 2019, report provides a snapshot of climate trends, observed high-impact events and associated risks and impacts on key sensitive sectors in Africa. The report also draws lessons on existing gaps in climate change action

Despite turning out better than expected, growth in 2020 is estimated to be the worst on record, at –1.9 percent, leading to a large increase in poverty. In 2021, the region’s economy is expected to resume expansion at 3.4 percent, weaker than the 6 percent for the rest of the world, amid a…

Food, water, medicine, energy: the planet’s ecosystems provide the essentials of life, so long as they’re taken care of. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been happening. During the last several decades, human development has pushed many of the world’s forests, savannahs and other natural systems to the…

Books: A Window into the World During COVID-19 Now more than ever, at a time when globally most schools are closed and people are having to limit time spent out of their homes, the power of books can be leveraged to combat isolation, to reinforce ties between people, and to expand our horizons…

As we humans continue to subject our home planet to increasing pressures, European Space Agency ESA is the better placed than ever to understand and monitor the consequences of what we inflict. Astronauts onboard the International Space Station give us the human perspective of how beautiful Earth is…

The Council's and the European Parliament's negotiators reached a provisional political agreement setting into law the objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050, and a collective, net greenhouse gas emissions reduction target (emissions after deduction of removals) of at least 55% by 2030 compared…

Strategic foresight will play a key role in helping future-proof EU policymaking by ensuring that short-term initiatives are grounded in a longer term perspective. To make the most of its potential, this Commission has a strong mandate to put strategic foresight at the heart of EU policymaking…

At least 155 states recognize their citizens have the right to live in a healthy environment, either through national legislation or international accords, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite those protections, the World Health Organization estimates that 23 per cent of all…