From Extreme Weather to Climate Change in Africa

About the lecture: Climate Change in Africa is a big threat to the people, the environment and the economy. Most of the disasters are hydrometeorological in origin and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has projected an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme events over the continent. While global climate is changing due to greenhouse gas increases, mostly emitted from countries outside Africa, it has been argued since the 1970s that human activities on the land surface in Africa also cause shifts in the climate. It can be hard to imagine how Africa will cope with an increase in the intensity of storms, droughts and heatwaves, when the effects of present-day weather extremes can be so devastating. Is the contribution of land use change to climate change in Africa important to these changes? The presentation will inquire how the present-day weather is viewed vis-à-vis climate change.

About the speaker: Dr Benjamin Lamptey joined the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) in Niamey, Niger as the Deputy Director-General (DDG) in September 2013. He became the Acting Director General of ACMAD cumulatively with the DDG position from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2018, before joining the University of Leeds, UK, as a Cheney Fellow. Prior to joining ACMAD, he was the Acting Head of the Nautical Science Department and Acting Dean of the Graduate School at the Regional Maritime University in Accra, Ghana. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado USA from 2005 to 2007 after obtaining his doctorate degree in Geosciences (with a minor in High Performance Computing) from the Pennsylvania State University. He started his meteorology career as a Weather Forecaster at the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) and later became the Head of the Climatology Division. He led the creation of the national climatological database. He is a climate modeler but has expertise in Data Management. His current passion is in the transition from research to operations.

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session and a panel discussion. Panel members will include:

• Dr Rosalind West, DFID Climate Science Lead
• Prof Andy Dougill, Executive Dean: Faculty of Earth and Environment
• Prof John Marsham, Water@Leeds Research Fellow
• Dr Benjamin Lamptey, Cheney Fellow