ISI Advisory Board members Prof. William Blake (UK) and Dr Omogbemi Omoloju Yaya (Nigeria) received funding from Innovate UK to develop partnerships relating to the ISI primary aim to support the global agenda for sustainable integrated land and water resources management through sound [soil and] sediment management. Working within the Climate-Smart Agriculture Partnerships: UK-Brazil-Africa programme, activities aimed to develop an interdisciplinary/cross-sectoral network that: (1) capably fuses farmer/sector-led, laboratory and sensor technology assessment tools with indigenous/local knowledge to create a new holistic approach to soil health assessment that (2) enables equitable transition to CSA with wider co-benefits for downstream water security and aquatic ecosystem services by reducing sediment pollution.

A multisectoral workshop held in Abuja, Nigeria in December focussed on Challenges and barriers to Climate Smart Agriculture in Nigeria and Ghana to lay the groundwork for future research cooperation between Nigeria and UK ISI counterparts, and wider networks in West Africa, to resolve complex management challenges along the soil-sediment continuum. Catalysed by this ISI collaboration, the Nigerian Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to advancing climate-smart agriculture research to be facilitated through a strategic partnership between the National Water Resources Institute, Nigeria, and the University of Plymouth, United Kingdom. 

Photo caption: Dr Yaya and Prof. Blake at the Abuja workshop (top) and visit to the Federal Ministry with members of their interdisciplinary research teams.