Interview:How to promote biosciences for sustainable development in Africa – Prof. Hassan

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PROF MOHAMMAD HASSAN-2Prof. Mohamed Hassan is the Co Chair of the InterAcademy Panel (IAP) the global network of science academies, and Chairman of the Council of the United Nations University (UNU). He also serves on a number of Boards of international organizations worldwide. He obtained his DPhil in Mathematics from the University of Oxford he returned to Sudan as Lecturer in the University of Khartoum, and later became Professor and Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences. He is a member of several merit-based academies of science worldwide. He spoke with Abdallah el-Kurebe for Newsdiaryonline in Chicago, USA. Excerpts:

Has the African continent the opportunities of seeking to accelerate biosciences and their applications to sustainable development, especially in the area of food security?

There is no doubts that the African continent has numerous opportunities in seeking to accelerate biosciences towards sustainable development across the continent. There are also specific steps that
need to be taken by the continent in order to build biosciences and related frontier STI. These steps are key elements for overcoming Africa’s chronic food insecurity and related debilitating problems
such as health and energy securities and safe drinking water. Through biosciences, two interconnected questions of how to develop and maintain the problem-solving capacities of African scientists and institutions in life sciences as well as how to harness the best of science and technology (S&T), to improve agricultural productivity, food security, disease control and access to clean water in the continent, will be addressed.

What are these opportunities?

Number one, despite its deep-seated poverty, Africa has a wide range of important assets. With a land surface of more than 30 million square kilometers, Africa is larger in size than the combined landmass of Australia, Brazil, Europe, Japan and the United States. It is also a continent with a large and growing population. Africa’s population currently exceeds 950 million people. The rate of growth is 2.3 percent per year as compared to 1.2 percent each in Asia and Latin America. Rapid population growth translates into a youthful population. More than 40 percent of Africa’s population are less than 14 years of age. Africa’s large and expanding youthful population stands in sharp contrast to the aging – and, in some instances, declining – populations of Europe, Japan and the United States. The continent’s demographic profile could offer a distinct advantage in a
world that will need a new generation of well-trained problem-solving scientists.
Beyond its treasure trove of oil, minerals and metals, Africa is home to a wide range of ecological zones largely due to its vast and varied terrain and the fact that the equator cuts across its centre, which has created a belt of biological ‘hotspots’ characterized by untold species, many of which are unique to the continent. There are, for example, some 14 classes of ecological zones, ranging from hot deserts to humid rain-forests. These ecological zones contain at least one third of the arable land in the globe and has the potential of transforming Africa from famine to becoming the breadbasket of the world. In addition, Africa’s ancient societies, combined with its rich resource base, have made it one of the world’s foremost centers of indigenous knowledge. The skills inherent in traditional medical practices are now having increasing impacts on modern medicine.

In spite of these opportunities, do you not see a litany of challenges, almost over-shadowing the opportunities?

It is true. While the people and resources of Africa offer hope for the future, today’s reality is quite different. The litany of Africa’s woes has been told again and again – in scholarly articles and books,
in international and governmental reports and white papers, in the media, in novels, in plays and even rock concerts.
Thirty-five of the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) are located in Africa. Nearly 70 percent of the continent’s people live on less than US$2 a day. More than 26 million Africans are inflicted with AIDS, a disease that claims the lives of 2.5 million people in Africa each year. Nearly 1 million Africans die each year of malaria. More than 40 percent of Africans do not have access to safe drinking water, and more than 70 percent do not have access to electricity. Education
on the continent, while recently enjoying some signs of resurgence, remains inadequate, and reliable health care continues to be out of reach for most Africans.
Global challenges, such as climate change, add to the continent’s woes and often place progress at risk. Experts anticipate that the dry lands of Africa, which cover nearly two-thirds of the continent and are home to nearly 400 million people (nearly half the population), will experience a significant loss in productivity as declining water supplies and higher temperatures put additional stress on these marginal agricultural lands. Experts also predict that climate change will spur the spread sand dunes across sub-Saharan Africa, adding unwelcome air-borne dust particles to the blistering temperatures that will likely worsen the continent’s health and environmental problems.
Africa’s ability to adapt to climate change is suspect at best. The continent does not have the institutional capacity or scientific and technological know-how to effectively design and implement adaptation policies to blunt its effects.
Amid all of these challenges lies a deficit that few international development agencies have spoken about directly until recently. Nevertheless, it may be the most significant challenge that Africa faces: Africa does not have the scientific and technological capacity to effectively address the challenges that it confronts. Equally important, it lacks the innovative capacity to devise solutions to
overcome these challenges.
Also, although Africa is home to more than 15 percent of the world’s population, it produces less than 2 percent of the world’s scientific knowledge in Biosciences – as measured by articles published by scientists working and living in Africa in peer-reviewed international
journals.
Low pay, poor working conditions and limited opportunities for advancement have all prompted Africa’s best and brightest scientists to pursue careers elsewhere. Brain drain represents not only a loss to the professional communities within their countries. More importantly, it represents a loss to their societies. Africa needs skilled and dedicated bioscientists in sufficient numbers if it hopes to break the cycle of poverty and despair that has gripped the continent for far too long. This is where the role of universities and centres of excellence and academies of science comes in. They will promote cutting-edge biosciences and their applications to improve food, health, energy and water securities.

What action or actions should leaders of the continent take against these challenges?

It is important for Africa to introduce educational reforms that will make biosciences more interesting and attractive to young people. This means devising a more hands-on approach to studying life sciences in the classroom, emphasizing learning by doing rather than the rote
memorization that has historically characterised scientific learning, especially in biology. The inquiry – based science education (IBSE), launched by IAP a few years ago, has become a much-emulated strategy for educational reform in biosciences. The results have been encouraging, outlining a blueprint for success that can be emulated by others.
Programs to increase scientific awareness among policy – makers and farmers must be introduced on a wider scale. These should include recent advances in biosciences such as tissue culture techniques, biotechnology and bioinformatics that hold the promise to improve agricultural productivity and food security in Africa. Successful awareness programs recently introduced in Africa should be identified, widely disseminated and shared with others.
Faculties of Agriculture and life-sciences within leading research Universities in Africa must be reformed and upgraded to international levels in both teaching and research. Each African country must have at least one University with world-class faculty of agriculture and units of excellence in life sciences that sets national standards for quality education and research and attracts the best and brightest students. Such universities in Africa can play a critical role in training a new generation of problem-solving scientists and turn biosciences into a demand-driven exercise in which research questions are often determined by critical social and economic needs.
Reforming and strengthening universities, generally, and research and training programmes in life sciences, specifically, would represent a critical step forward in Africa’s efforts to revitalise its
agricultural research systems . More importantly, long-term efforts to promote sustainable agro economic development will be seriously compromised unless Africa has a strong university system staffed by a vigorous and committed faculty capable of engaging the international community and the private sector as full and equal partners in agricultural research projects that address agricultural productivity and food security in Africa.

Has the international community no role in contributing to solving Africa’s challenges, especially in agricultural research and training?

Definitely, the international organizations and funding agencies have an obligation to assist Africa in its efforts to promote excellence and relevance in agricultural research and training. This means
investing in the creation of problem- solving global and regional centres of excellence in agricultural sciences and related life sciences. Examples of such centres include the CGIAR international
centres based in Africa, ISIPE and the newly established International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Cape Town, South Africa. These and other similar centres in Africa should establish strong collaboration with national agricultural research systems, universities, farmers and the private sector to ensure the full integration of research, training, commercialisation and extension.
African countries must bolster their merit-based science academies.These academies often include a nation’s most prominent bioscientists. Yet, they have often been relegated to the status of genteel men’s clubs and have failed to play a prominent role in national discussions related to science-based policy issues. The Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), the InterAcade my Panel on International Issues (IAP) and other institutions are actively seeking to change this mindset and to strengthen the capabilities of academies to influenc e policy, especially by providing evidence-based and timely advice to decision-makers on critical issues such as transgenic plants, GMO’s and biosafety.

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