Bio-Geosphere Africa 2023: Research for Diversity and Sustainable Development in the Face of Climate Change Conference (BioGARD)

Stuttgart, September 14 - 15, 2023

At the The Bio-Geosphere Africa 2023: Research for Diversity and Sustainable Development in the Face of Climate Change Conference (BioGARD), we had 25 presentations, 3 keynotes, and around 100 people participated from Germany, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Benin, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Gambia, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Namibia.

The presentations are now available at: https://biogard.uni-hohenheim.de/en/program-overview

BioGARD took place on the 14th and 15th of September 2023 at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany and offered stimulating lectures, original research, practical examples and lively discussions on future directions for an integrative and sustainable development in Africa. On the background of the African Union Agenda 2063 " a Prosperous Africa, based on Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development" the adaptive capacity of social, health, ecological and agro-systems for tackling the challenges imposed by the ongoing climate change were examined.

The sessions were built around the three major realms of sustainable development – biodiversity, agriculture, and resource use and health – by addressing the following topic areas:

- Bio- and geodiversity of Africa: Current status and challenges in the face of environmental change

- Resilient agriculture and resource use in an increasingly unpredictable future

- Resilient Health and Human Wellbeing under novel climatic and ecological settings

Three plenary sessions, parallel oral presentation sessions, and poster sessions add to a diverse congress program. The two days program was completed by workshops addressing pressing research needs and funding opportunities, capacity building as well as guidance on legal protocols for African-European research.