Acknowledging the significant disparities in global capacity for deep-sea research and leveraging a participatory approach, the Challenger 150 African Network of Deep-water Researchers (ANDR) proposes a series of short-, medium-, and long-term measures aimed at building on Africa’s capacity for deep-water research.
While Africa’s deep marine biodiversity offers economic prospects it also supports crucial ecosystem services and sustainable development is dependent on knowledge of these systems. Building understanding of deep-water ecosystems is key, but there are substantial discrepancies in countries’ abilities to achieve this. Coinciding with the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference, the ANDR has released a report on “Practical Actions to Strengthen Capacity for Deep-water Research in Africa”. Through a series of online workshops, the ANDR brought together 98 individuals from 19 African nations to discuss challenges for deep-water research in Africa, identify solutions to overcome these and propose practical actions going forward.
The development and production of this report was funded by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, the UK Science and Innovation Network, the Global Challenges Research Fund One Ocean Hub Project, the University of Plymouth, the University of Aveiro and the South African National Biodiversity Institute.
More information on this project is available here.
To download and read the full report, visit: https://doi.org/10.24382/gxbv-sp22.
