A high-level climate summit is coming to Dakar, Senegal, bringing together policymakers, scientists, youth leaders, mayors, and faith communities to chart practical pathways for building resilience across West Africa and the Sahel, a region facing some of the continent’s most acute climate pressures.
The West Africa Climate Resilience Summit will be hosted under the theme “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience: Pathways for West Africa and the Sahel at Local and Regional Levels.” It forms part of a wider series of regional summits organised jointly by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS), the Vatican’s primary institutions for scientific and social inquiry. The Dakar edition is hosted in partnership with AKADEMIYA2063, a pan-African think tank, and the Centre de Suivi Écologique, Senegal’s national ecological monitoring agency. The work unfolds under the continued leadership of Pope Leo XIV.
The summit’s conceptual framework, known as the MAST strategy, covers Mitigation, Adaptation, and Societal Transformation. Discussions will span food system innovation, water security, the role of forests, coastal protection, climate finance, legal and regulatory frameworks, and the potential of nature-based solutions tailored to the diverse social and environmental conditions of the region.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, Chancellor of PAS and PASS, said the continent bears a disproportionate burden of climate impacts despite contributing least to the crisis. “Faith-based communities agree that we must respond by harnessing the continent’s expertise and fostering dialogue to develop integrated, effective solutions,” he said.
Dr. Cheikh Mbow, Director General of the Centre de Suivi Écologique, described Senegal as a fitting host, pointing to the country’s national adaptation frameworks covering agriculture, coastal zones, and renewable energy as evidence of existing institutional depth on which the summit can build.
Prof. Joachim von Braun, President of PAS, signalled that food and water would be central to the West African agenda. “Adaptation in West Africa and the Sahel is very much a matter of food and agriculture,” he said, calling for stronger action on food and nutrition security and expanded use of innovative financing.
The Dakar summit is the seventh in a series that has previously convened in Austria, Brazil, Kenya, and the United States. The broader initiative began with a Call to Action signed at the Vatican by Pope Francis alongside scientists, policymakers, and faith leaders. The 2025 and 2026 regional gatherings are building toward a comprehensive Vatican summit in 2027, which is expected to produce a Universal Protocol for Climate Resilience for adoption by communities worldwide.
