Youba Sokona
FAAS Function as a service (FaaS) is a category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage application functionalities without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typical ...
FTWAS (born 23 May 1950) ) is a Malian expert in the fields of energy and sustainable development, particularly in Africa. He has been the vice-chair of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...
(IPCC) since October 2015 and a lead author at the IPCC since 1990.
Early life and education
Youba Sokona was born on 23 May 1950 in
Segou, Mali.
In 1976, Youba Sokona obtained a Civil and Mining Engineering degree from the Abderhamane Baba Touré National School of Engineers, Mali. He continued his studies in France to pass a diploma of advanced studies (DEA) option Sciences of the Earth at the
Pierre and Marie Curie University
Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussi ...
today
Sorbonne University
Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...
, Paris, which he finished in 1978. Sokona obtained his doctorate in Earth Sciences as a student of the
École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris
Mines Paris - PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris (until May 2022 Mines ParisTech, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines de Paris, les Mines, or Paris School of Mines), is a French grande école and a c ...
and the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris in 1981.
Career and research
Youba research
and commentary focuses on policies that affect energy, desertification,
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
, and
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
,
particularly in Africa.
Sokona is a special advisor for sustainable development at the
South Centre.
At the same time, he is a member of many councils, organizations and institutions, a visiting professor at the
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...
,
and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (
IIASA
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an independent international research institute located in Laxenburg, near Vienna, in Austria. Through its research programs and initiatives, the institute conducts policy-or ...
) since January 2017 and until December 2022. He is Special Advisor to the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ener ...
in the United States, Coordinator of the
African Climate Policy Center ( ACPC).
Fight against climate change in Africa
In 1995 Youba Sokona published a Strategy for the rational use of energy in West Africa: evaluation and prospective for the organization
Enda Third World where he was the co-founder of the
Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which he coordinated from 1987 to June 2004, in 2002, he published the article Mastering energy in West Africa. In 2008 he supervised the program of the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel as executive secretary of the
Sahara and Sahel Observatory.
Youba resigned from the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative on 30 April 2017, citing “European interference
o impose EU-preferred projectsin African governance that belongs to another era.”
The inaitiative was replaced in 2017 due to row over European interfence. Youba aired his frustration that academics at African institutions are often not consulted by policymakers or governments and their research and potential solutions are being while donor's ideas are being pushed forward.
IPCC
As a member of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...
(IPCC) and its main contributor since 1990, Youba Sokona has notably been co-chairman of working group III alongside
Ottmar Edenhofer
Ottmar Georg Edenhofer (born 8 July 1961) is a German economist who is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on climate change policy, environmental and energy policy, and energy economics. His work has been heavily cited. Edenhofer curr ...
and
Ramón Pichs Madruga, studying the role of renewable energies in the fight against climate change; their report, entitled ''IPCC special report on renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation'',
was published in 2014 in the fifth report of the IPCC.
In 2007, when the fourth report appeared, he was the lead author of the summary note, while being cited several times in the appendix to the Group III report;
this same report was part of Why IPCC received
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
with
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
in the same year. However, the IPCC came under unprecedented media scrutiny in 2009 in the run-up to the
Copenhagen climate conference
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...
. This "
Climatic Research Unit email controversy
The Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousa ...
" involved the leak of emails from climate scientists. Many of these scientists were authors of the
Fourth Assessment Report
''Climate Change 2007'', the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published in 2007 and is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and soci ...
which came out in 2007. The discovery of an error in this report that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 put the IPCC under further pressure. Scientific bodies upheld the general findings of the Fourth Assessment Report and the IPCC's approach. But many people thought the IPCC should review the way it works.
Youba was elected vice-chair of IPCC in October 2015.
Honours and awards
Sokona is an honorary professor at the
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
, and was elected a Fellow of the
African Academy of Sciences
The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit, pan-African learned society formed in 1985.
The AAS elects fellows ( FAAS) and affiliates. The AAS also awards the Obasanjo Prize for Scientific Discovery and ...
since 2018,
and a Fellows o f the
World Academy of Sciences in 2022.
References
External links
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Africa`s leading climate scientist [Youba Sokonaon
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Africa`s leading climate scientist [Youba Sokonaon
what the climate crisis means for Africa Hali Hewa Podcast in English
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Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences
Malian scientists