Anthropogenic threats to freshwater ecosystems and vulnerability to global warming are particularly pronounced in Africa. Yet, there is a limited capacity to study and protect these ecosystems on the continent. Another challenge is that the existing small number of well-equipped research and conservation initiatives for freshwater ecosystems tend to operate in isolation from one another. To effectively address these issues, we argue that it is critical to proactively promote research and management of freshwater ecosystems, and partnerships and collaborations should be at the core. We believe active partnerships between stakeholders ranging from researchers to practitioners, private sector and non-governmental organizations to public and governmental organizations, national and international governance to local and grassroots efforts are important for successful research projects, knowledge translation, and implementation programs. In 2022, the SFS Africa chapter has started initial steps towards building capacity on the continent through a series of training workshops, eg: data analysis using R, taxonomy, and benthic macroinvertebrates identification. These were facilitated by local experts. Participants had also shown strong interest in other disciplines such as DNA barcoding and bioinformatics around freshwater biodiversity. However, the lack of local expertise, facilities and equipment hindered this to happen. To this end, the presentation will discuss potential strategies to establish long-term collaboration between north and south with the goal to enable knowledge sharing, information flow about best practices, and inspiring and supporting locally-led initiatives. We will also demonstrate how this kind of partnership will likely create opportunities to mobilize support for collaboratively identified priorities. We will underscore SFS Africa Chapter as a potentially well-positioned continental network that could enable such a cross-pollination between institutions and individuals across international boundaries, for effective research and conservation of freshwater ecosystems.
Key words: SFS Africa Chapter, Collaborations, Partnerships, Freshwater Research and Management