Dr Temitope O Sogbanmu
ACU Climate Cohort Fellow 2023-24
At the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF) in November, I was privileged to be nominated as a Panellist for a session on Research Agenda and Urban Data Gaps in the context of Climate Action as part of the Academia Roundtable on 8 November 2024.
As a Fellow of the ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort 2023-24, it has been a learning-packed, experiences-rich and skills-strengthening programme over the past year. My engagement in the programme project with the water security in a changing world theme, along with my experience from other projects I am currently implementing which are highly relevant to sustainable cities and coastal communities, were brought to bear in my contributions at the WUF 12 Academia Roundtable. Along with the other distinguished and transdisciplinary panellists, we contributed high-level perspectives and strategic recommendations for WUF which was reflected in the Cairo Call to Action (item 8) - co-production of local data.
Specifically, in response to the question of my expectations of UN-Habitat in convening and facilitating stakeholders on the science-policy-society nexus, my contributions to the panel were that it needs to facilitate the institutionalisation of transdisciplinary research by funding, engaging and providing resources for local, national and regional governments as well as academia.
My perspective on how to close research and data gaps at local levels was for academia to engage in the co-creation of knowledge with local communities and other contextual stakeholders such as practitioners, government agencies, civil society and informal sector groups. This can be engaged using citizen science approaches. I cited the example of our ACU-funded project aimed at identifying water security solutions in an urban coastal slum community in Lagos. Here, we are training young local community members in the use of rapid drinking water quality test kits to test, record and mobilise their data into online data collectors like Kobo tool or Google forms as well as participatory community mapping of water insecurity and climate change vulnerable areas.
Similarly, an example of the utility of a co-creation approach with transdisciplinary stakeholders in addressing cities’ environmental challenges was the air quality project I am involved in, aimed at developing contextual pan-sectoral air quality management recommendations for Lagos state, Nigeria. We consult with stakeholders across various sectors and strata of the city including CSOs like Slum Dwellers International, media, government agencies, and academia on synthesised air quality recommendations and invite their perspectives, contributions and validation.
My expectations for the next WUF 12 posed to the panel were to include young people, especially from local communities involved in engagement and decision-making about their communities at such high-level gatherings so that their interests and contributions can be mainstreamed. I shared a case study of my co-founding the Global Indigenous Youth on Climate Change (GIYSCC) in 2023 as an annual virtual event which facilitates dialogue between youths and Indigenous people from all over the world on climate change issues and contextual solutions being applied across communities globally.
My participation at the WUF 12 greatly benefited me in various ramifications. I got the opportunity to connect with colleagues with mutual research interests who are based at academic and non-academic institutions in Egypt and other countries of the world, especially my fellow panellists. I was thrilled to get firsthand information and participate in discussions at the UN-Habitat booth on the World Cities Report that was launched during the forum. Already my Postgraduate students and I are engaging with the report to glean applications of the recommendations to our context in Lagos and Nigeria.
Further, through my nomination and participation at the forum, I was invited as a panellist in Session IV: International Collaboration: Exploring Strategic Urban Development Initiatives at the UTMC Regional Conference: Advancing Urban Transitions in Africa. My contributions to the panel focused on collaborations being cognisant of local contextualities and peoples especially informal stakeholders like coastal slum communities, facilitating knowledge co-production through citizen science (involving community stakeholders) and knowledge exchange. We discussed collaborations going beyond academia-academia to academia-society-policy which would target contextual challenges and real impact in the field. Utilising online community engagement platforms and tools for partnerships and networking was also recommended.
I sincerely appreciate the ACU for nominating and sponsoring me to participate in and contribute to the WUF 12 in Egypt and the opportunity to share the experiences from my ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort project.
More information
- Find out more about the ACU Commonwealth Futures Climate Research Cohort
- Find out more about the ACU’s involvement in the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities initiative and the MoU with UN-Habitat
