change, agriculture and food security.
DEADLINE for submission of proposals: Midnight (2400 hours) US Eastern Standard Time 28 March 2012 at the International START Secretariat office based in Washington, DC, USA. Please submit proposals electronically to proposals@start.org.
Background
Agriculture in Africa is highly vulnerable to impacts of climate change, manifested through increased drought and flood severity, more intense storms, shifts in the timing and distribution of rainfall, warmer temperatures, and secondary effects such as increased pest and disease pressure. Food security in Africa will be profoundly affected by climate change, which is occurring on top of rapid population growth, fast-paced urbanization, land-use change, conflict, and degradation of critical environmental services that underpin food and livelihood security.
Effectively managing risks to food security in Africa and making agricultural systems more resilient in the face of climate change, and global environmental change more broadly, requires strengthening the knowledge base about current and future vulnerabilities and impacts, and about appropriate responses across time and space. Multi-disciplinary research that is issue-based and solution-focused, combined with actions that foster communication across research, policy and practice are essential to this effort.
START is committed to strengthening knowledge and communication systems on global environmental change in Africa, and is therefore pleased to announce the 2012 Call for Proposals on global environmental change, agriculture and food security in Africa. The 2012 round of GEC grants will build directly on the 2011 Africa GEC grants (http://start.org/programs/africangec) that focused on how climatic and environmental changes potentially impact ecosystem services critical to agriculture and food and livelihood security in arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, and humid environments as well as for communities dependent on coastal marine systems.
Successful proposals will 1) directly address issues related to the theme of this call, 2) include both natural and social science disciplines, 3) directly engage relevant stakeholder groups through the course of the research, and 4) contain a communication and outreach strategy.
Research Theme
The theme for the 2012 CFP is global environmental change, agriculture and food security with an emphasis on understanding links between ecosystem services, agriculture, food security, and sustainable livelihoods.
