Eastern Africa is heavily affected by the impacts of climate change. Droughts, flooding, and resource conflicts are harming local people’s ability to secure their livelihoods.
In addition, global competition for land is leaving its mark on the countries of Eastern Africa: Large-scale land acquisitions and land use changes increase the pressure on ecosystems and hinder opportunities for self-determined development among local people.
Dynamics of rapid transformation, social disparities, and political and legal uncertainties are deepening the fissures between winners and losers of global change.
Research focuses
The research of CDE and its local partners goes right to work on these issues. It links sustainable use of natural resources with national and local socio-economic dynamics as well as equitable, integrative policymaking. A key factor here is, on the one hand, the promotion and expansion of knowledge and capacities, so that local populations can steer their own development sustainably. On the other hand, CDE strives to establish fair research partnerships that are adapted to the respective context.
Using participatory methods, CDE’s research activities generate robust scientific data and information that feed into political decision-making processes. In parallel, its projects and programmes deliberately promote dialogue with policymakers and society. The following topics represent key focuses:
- Management and equitable governance of water, land, and other natural resources
- Sustainable food systems and food security
- Sustainable regional development and spatial planning
- Agricultural transformation, with a particular emphasis on the trend of global actors making decisions that impact local land use (“telecoupling”)
