Harvard U Professor Calestous Juma to talk Agriculture in Africa at CSU Nov. 12

Nearly 60 percent of the world’s available arable land is in Africa. The continent is banking on agriculture as a future resource and the land as a foundation for long-term economic transformation. But this focus coincides with new concerns about the impact of climate change on agriculture as well as on Africa’s biological diversity.

Harvard University’s Calestous Juma, former executive director of the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity and director of the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, will visit the Colorado State University campus to discuss the role that biological diversity could play in helping Africa pursue alternative agricultural strategies. Such approaches could address the need to increase food production, improve nutrition, reduce food losses, and help African nations participate in the global economy.

Juma’s lecture will be held in the Lory Student Center room 386, 5-6 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12. A pre-lecture reception takes place 4-5 p.m. in the Virginia Dale Room of the LSC, near the North Ballroom.

The lecture is free of charge and open to the public, and is sponsored by CSU’s Africa Center and the School of Global Environmental Sustainability. You do not need to register to attend.