Ghanaian climate scientist Dr. Kwesi Akumenyi Quagraine is leading Africa’s growing voice in one of the most controversial fields in modern climate science — deliberate human intervention in the Earth’s atmosphere to slow global warming.
His research at the United States National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF-NCAR) is shedding light on how such climate-intervention technologies could reshape rainfall, agriculture, and water systems across Africa.
Dr. Quagraine’s work focuses on solar geoengineering, a class of experimental techniques that aim to reflect a portion of sunlight back into space to reduce surface temperatures. One of the most discussed methods, known as Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI), involves dispersing reflective particles high in the stratosphere, mimicking the temporary cooling effects of volcanic eruptions. Supporters say it could provide emergency relief from rising heat, but critics caution that it could trigger unpredictable changes in rainfall and weather patterns.
In a recent commentary published in Nature Climate Change, Dr. Quagraine called for Africa to have a decisive voice in the governance of such climate-intervention technologies, which are currently being discussed mostly in Western scientific and policy circles. “Decisions about our shared atmosphere cannot exclude those who would feel their effects most directly,” he warned.
Working alongside colleagues at NCAR and several African universities, Dr. Quagraine is using high-resolution versions of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to simulate how SAI might affect Africa’s climate. His team’s results suggest that even minor atmospheric changes could shift the continent’s major rain belts by hundreds of kilometres, potentially reducing drought in one region while worsening it in another.
Two of his long-standing collaborators, Professor Babatunde Abiodun of the University of Cape Town and Professor Samuel Essien-Baidoo of the University of Cape Coast, are central to the project. Together, they are enhancing Africa’s capacity to model and interpret the regional consequences of geoengineering. Their work builds on a strong record of African-led research in climate change and adaptation, ensuring that the continent contributes directly to global scientific and policy discussions.
“The concern is not only scientific but also ethical and political,” the Nature Climate Change article notes. “A single geoengineering test near the equator by a wealthy nation could, in theory, alter rainfall and growing seasons across West Africa.”
International attention is beginning to follow. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Climate Research Programme, and regional African climate networks are developing frameworks to guide countries in assessing such technologies. Programmes such as the UK-based Degrees Initiative and the US-based Reflective have provided funding for Dr. Quagraine and his partners to deepen their work on solar geoengineering and its potential impacts on the Global South.
In Ghana and across West Africa, their findings are already shaping policy discussions on agriculture, water management, and disaster preparedness. By linking global simulations with local observations, the researchers are helping governments weigh the risks and opportunities of climate intervention.
Dr. Quagraine believes Africa’s engagement is not optional but essential. “Climate-intervention research will move forward somewhere,” he said. “The choice is whether we help steer it or simply endure its outcomes.”
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