Africa Talks Environment Conference

Obama – an alumna of the University of Bayreuth – delivered her keynote entitled “Der Elefant im Porzellanladen – Wie externe Eingriffe die afrikanische Landwirtschaft und ihre Nachhaltigkeit beeinflussen”, describing decades of external interventions as “an elephant in a china shop” – a force that, however well-meaning, often disrupts the very systems it sets out to support. She argued that international political and economic agendas continue to shape agricultural policies across African countries, too often sidelining the knowledge of local farmers, communities and researchers.

While the evening address drew public attention, the day had already been marked by a rigorous series of academic panels, hosted by the BAdW in the Munich residence and organised by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth. During the day, the international and interdisciplinary group of scholars discussed environmental transformations across the African continent, from the social effects of changing rainfall patterns to the cultural dimensions of land use and the political economies that shape responses to environmental stress. Presentations explored how ecological change intersects with questions of governance, migration, food security and indigenous knowledge systems. The symposium sought to situate African environmental issues within global frameworks while resisting the tendency to universalise Western models of sustainability.

Panelists emphasised that African Studies – particularly in its environmental focus – is moving increasingly to the centre of academic debates, not as a peripheral field but as a key site for understanding the future of global climate policy. The conversation throughout the day repeatedly returned to the need for research partnerships that acknowledge expertise across continents and challenge longstanding hierarchies in knowledge production.

Obama’s evening lecture sharpened these themes further. She warned that sustainability strategies conceived in Europe or North America routinely overlook the complexity of African agricultural systems, arriving with pre-packaged prescriptions that may be incompatible with local ecological and cultural contexts. According to Obama, development initiatives are too often designed without input from those directly affected, feeding a cycle in which foreign actors devise the frameworks and local communities are asked to adapt to them. This, she argued, is not collaboration but a subtle form of paternalism.

Her message was not a rejection of international cooperation but a call to rethink its foundations. Effective environmental action, she said, must begin with listening – not dictating – and with a recognition that African communities possess deep reservoirs of agricultural knowledge that should shape the design of any sustainability initiative.

The event marked more than a moment of shared reflection. It was the first joint activity in what both institutions hope will become a longer and more ambitious collaboration between the BAdW in Munich and the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth. Prof. Dr. Markus Schwaiger, director of the BadW, and Prof. Dr. Stefan Leible, president of the University of Bayreuth, described the conference as a step toward a more sustained partnership between the two institutions, aimed at fostering cross-regional dialogue, co-produced research and new academic formats that bridge disciplines and geographies.