Theme: THE NEED TO RETHINK THE WORLD FOR SUSTAINABILITY: THE ROLE OF TRANSFORMATIONAL RESEARCH IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAA

1. Background and Justification

During an important meeting at the United Nations in 2012, major head of States and Governments, committed to a new worldwide roadmap, through adoption of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030.

From 2015, those 17 SDGs constituted the guiding principles for the States in their efforts towards sustainable lifestyles. They cover interconnected areas of human life including poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, water, energy, employment and sustainable economic growth, industry and innovation, inequality, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate change, water and land, peace and justice, and partnerships and collaboration.

While the States have committed themselves to achieve all those objectives by 2030, unexpected events such as the global pandemic of COVID-19 constitute shocks, challenges and tests for the whole mankind. Those events are likely to disrupt social codes and habits, social interactions, economies, environments, etc.

In the global response to the COVID-19 crisis, the urgency took precedence over long term solutions. Indeed, in addition to the health emergency, humanity has quickly been confronted with an economic, social, political and environmental emergency. Beyond issues related to health emergency, the current crisis exposes the limits of the different models of thinking and functioning of various societies.

The shortcomings of the current management of the COVID-19 crisis show that the world will never be sufficiently equipped to deal with such crises. Medical progress remains an imperative to contain or even reduce diseases burden, especially for major tropical diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, non-communicable diseases, emerging and re-emerging diseases, among others. ...Beyond that, it is imperative to rethink our lifestyles and development models in a way that they become more resilient and sustainable. The guarantee of common goods; the assurance of a transition towards a more inclusive model, resilient to climate and ecological risks, sustainable and protective of citizens and biodiversity; as well as democratic systems that fully combine the participation of all and the respect of fundamental rights, are essential to avoid new crises. Those priorities are likely to guide post-crisis reconstruction.

There is an urgent need to think and act sustainably or else, to be obliged to continuously bandage. Transformational research must remain a priority, or rather become the top priority for sub-Saharan Africa.

This part of the continent is the area of multiple transitions, each with its own set of uncertainties, the combination of which makes any foresight initiative difficult.

-       Even with a slow pace, a process of demographic transition is currently underway, with the corollary that education needs are becoming significantly more important as t birth rates remain high even though they are decreasing in a large number of countries;

- An economic transition, as the economic landscape is dominated by so-called rentier systems (based on the massive exploitation of natural resources) while those rentier economies are neither competitive nor sustainable;

- An energy and ecological transition, as the scarcity or depletion of natural resources under the combined effects of overexploitation and climate change increasingly show the limits of current development patterns; 

- A social transition characterised by the dynamics of the traditional social structures around contradictions and clashes between various classes, groups or casts that are characteristic of the capitalist order; Those contradictions shape the economic and social sphere but also the cultural sphere in which genuine African values and norms are deployed and confronted to other systems borrowed from the Asian, European, Islamic-Arabic, Christian and Western worlds;

- A transition in governance as African states aspire to greater global leadership.

Sub-Saharan Africa is therefore at a crossroads in a context where the capacity for foresight informed by good science is more than ever crucial to the co-construction of a more prosperous and resilient society.