Science is the “single most versatile solution” to poverty, hunger, disease, resource scarcity and other development challenges Africa is facing, Ethiopia’s minister for water and energy argues in a newly published opinion piece.
“I am convinced that science and the innovations it inspires are critical to managing precious resources, mitigating climate change impacts, and putting Africa in the vanguard of the global transition to renewables,” Ato Alemayehu Tegenu writes in an opinion piece published by MmegiOnline, a Botswanan news portal.
But development-oriented science in Africa should be a “responsible science,” the minister adds, explaining that such science should be Africa-led and directed towards improving the lives of people in the region. Development-oriented science must also take into account environmental and social considerations from the outset.
“Increasingly we are seeing science and technology power development across the continent, with Africans leading the way,” the minister writes. “So they should: the growth of science must not fuel brain-drain or impose outside solutions.”
