On 21 October 2019, we were delighted to welcome Dr Pedi Obani, Research Fellow in the United Nations University – Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), to the University of Leeds to lead a seminar/webinar hosted jointly with the Leeds University Centre for African Studies. Using a case study focused on Nigeria’s Benin City, Dr Obani showed examples of strategies used by residents to deal with regular flooding in the face of inadequate infrastructure and other external challenges. To enhance the effectiveness of such adaptation strategies for both the individuals and the community as a whole, Dr Obani highlighted the need to create social networks in which individuals and households can find both collective responses to challenges like flooding through mutual learning while identifying sanctions to discourage deviant strategies. Thanks to our live and online audience, including participants from Nigeria, Mali and South Africa, we rounded off the seminar with an exciting debate on the challenges around climate adaptation at the local level.
If you didn’t make it, you can catch up with the full webinar recording or download the presentation slides. We welcome comments or questions about our seminar series so please get in touch. Our next event will be held on 27 November 2019, in collaboration with GCRF African SWIFT. Further details on registration are available here.