The UN Climate Summit (COP25) was held from 2-13 December 2019 in Madrid, bringing together some 29 000 representatives from nearly 200 nations. Many leaders expressed their disappointment with the meeting’s outcome. “The international community lost an important opportunity to show increased ambition on mitigation, adaptation & finance to tackle the climate crisis,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres declared. Key decisions on global carbon markets were deferred until next year’s COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. CILSS/AGRHYMET presented information about the climate challenges facing the Sahel and West Africa at the CILSS Day on 12 December 2019. Read on

The CILSS Regional Agrhymet Centre celebrated its 11th graduating of class of senior hydrological technicians with a ceremony on 29 October 2019. Twenty-nine senior experts completed the training, including three women. Agrhymet has trained more than 1 500 experts since its creation. It currently runs six master’s programmes and several technical degrees for under-graduate students. Read on

The theme of the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF 2019), which brought together some 2 400 key stakeholders on 3-6 September in Accra, focused on using digital information and tools to support sustainable food systems in Africa. With the facilitation of USAID, the SWAC Secretariat presented the Africapolis database and key findings from its work on urbanisation. Read on