From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience Pathways for West Africa and the Sahel at Local and Regional Levels
Dakar, Senegal
March 23 – 24, 2026
We, the co-organizers of the Regional Conference "From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience: Pathways for West Africa and the Sahelian Region at Local and Regional Levels," held in Dakar, Senegal, from March 23 – March 24, 2026, under the auspices of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences and in partnership with AKADEMIYA2063 & Centre de Suivi Ecologique, affirm our commitment to contribute to building a climate-resilient Africa, recognizing our ties to diverse stakeholder communities.
This Conference builds on and draws on the foundations laid by African initiatives and action plans, such as the 2023 African Climate Summit and the Africa Youth Climate Assembly Declaration . It connects to climate ethics and planetary stewardship, as articulated by the Pontifical Academies in the Vatican, and adds a critical dimension: elevating resilience through Mitigation, Adaptation, and Societal Transformation (MAST), with an emphasis on locally-led actions and systemic change.
Strategic Orientation & Implementation
Additional Summit Strategies
- Science Communities of the Region in the Lead: As in all PAS/PASS-stimulated regional summits, the West Africa Summit shall be guided by regional climate resilience expertise, in cooperation with PAS and PASS.
- Youth Engagement: Foster youth engagement as an integral part of the conference.
MAST Strategy
Mitigation needs to be complemented by adaptation and societal transformation to cope with the additional heating of the planet in the coming decades and to evolve into a sustainable way of living. Resilience consists of the following actions:
- Anticipate threats and risks
- Prepare for threats and risks
- Respond to threats and risks
- Recover and rebound from threats and risks
Mitigation, Adaptation, and Societal Transformation (MAST) form three pillars for climate resilience:
Stay Resilient
Video recordings of the ResilientAfrica: West Africa Summit are available to watch online.
Aiming for Lasting Outcomes Among the Summit Partners
Beyond conference reporting and platform formations, the following tangible outcomes are envisioned:
- Regional and local planning and adaptation, with a focus on financing resiliency
- High-level policy dialogue formats for resilience actions, with emphasis on inclusion and in structures dedicated to youth perspectives and science on climate change.
- Adoption of implementation methods and structured inputs to be included in the blueprint for climate resilience and the Universal Protocol for Climate Resilience.
- Strengthen capacity-building initiatives and best practices to support local implementation of climate resilience solutions.
