Conceptual and Practical Tools for African Sustainability Research Agenda

Sustainability as a word, term, and concept informs current imaginations of the future of earth and all living things. It also underpins ongoing legislative frameworks and the consequent practices. What do these mean for the African continent, where countries face and experience different conditions yet are expected to pursue developmental paths aligned with the African Union Agenda 2063? How does this variation inform the research agenda for sustainability research in Africa? What conceptual and methodological tools are available for translating such an agenda into sustainable development policies and practices? These questions are more than an academic exercise but are instead foundational to driving an African sustainability research agenda, which is sensitive to, and informed by varied conditions at the local, national, and regional levels while simultaneously engaging global debates relevant to those conditions. Using case studies from the African Union regions, this workshop session offers conceptual and practical tools on bridging the gaps between the particularisms of sustainability challenges and the adapted common paths for sustainable development. It will also demonstrate how the failure to bridge this gap limits Africa’s contribution to global sustainability debates and policy formulations.