Messages from Dakar: report of the second AIACC regional workshop for Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands

This paper summarises findings from the second AIACC Regional Workshop for Africa and Indian Ocean Islands. The workshop provided a forum for persons from across Africa to share knowledge, discuss common concerns, consider adaptation responses, and develop personal and institutional relationships that can form a basis for future collaborations.The research reported at the Dakar Workshop ranged over a wide set of topics including climate modeling, the impacts of climate change and variability, adaptation measures and policies, the testing and evaluation of methods, scenario construction, and stakeholder involvement. This paper includes abstracts from reports submitted to the conference and reports from meetings and discussions held during the conference.The conference's main conclusions include:adaptation to climate change is needed now and that it is best mainstreamed and approached as a continuous processvulnerability to climate hazards is high among those who are strongly dependent on primary resource sectorsfood security, rural livelihoods, human health, and water resources, rank high among climate change vulnerability concerns for Africaplace-based, regional case studies in Africa are filling critical gaps in knowledge about climate change vulnerability and adaptationsignificant progress has been made in developing scenarios of climate change for Africa and adding to capacity for climate science research in the regionthe value of climate change research and assessment for policy application is greatly enhanced by meaningful engagement of stakeholdersinvestments in scientific knowledge and capacity related to climate change yield high payoffs in the developing world.The authors' recommendations for future action include:increasing collaboration with stakeholders from local, national, regional and international organisations as demonstrated by their success in publication of peer-reviewed papers, and have generated new knowledgeusing current climate risks as an entry point to insert climate change adaptation into public sector decision-makingdeveloping a communication strategy.