The socio-economic conditions of Africa have continued to undergo massive and rapid transformation due to factors such as urbanization and population growth. The adverse effects of climate change on the continent have also intensified, necessitating the design of context-specific strategies to ensure food security and environmental sustainability. In this regard, it has become increasingly important to quantify Africa’s contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to support the design of relevant mitigation and adaptation strategies. A lack of representative and systematic information on GHG emissions is hampering efforts to evaluate the contribution, and simultaneously, the impacts of climate change on agriculture across the continent. Compared to observation systems for greenhouse gas and other emissions in other continents, African networks have much less capacity.

The establishment of environmental Research Infrastructures (RI) and observational systems in Africa that can generate knowledge to inform climate change mitigation strategies, is therefore crucial. The ‘Supporting…