SCIENCE IN THE NEWS DAILY
African Science Feels the Pinch
from Nature News
The global financial crisis is hampering plans to revive African science, researchers and policy-makers said last week in Durban, South Africa. Slashed donor funding, slowing foreign investment and competing budget priorities are the main culprits; hardest hit are the poorest countries and continent-wide projects.
"Our countries are in crisis, philanthropists are in crisis and the aid agencies are in crisis," Jean-Pierre Ezin, commissioner for science, technology and human resources for the African Union, said at a conference organized by TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, based in Trieste, Italy.
In 2007, an African presidential summit on science saw funders falling over each other to offer assistance on science and technology programmes. Today the funding situation has changed dramatically.
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