Youba Sokona

Youba Sokona was born on 23 May 1950{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} in Segou, Mali.

In 1976, Youba Sokona obtained a Civil and Mining Engineering degree from the Abderhamane Baba Touré National School of Engineers, Mali. He continued his studies in France to pass a diploma of advanced studies (DEA) option Sciences of the Earth at the Pierre and Marie Curie University today Sorbonne University, Paris, which he finished in 1978. Sokona obtained his doctorate in Earth Sciences as a student of the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris and the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris in 1981.{{cite web|title=Curriculum Vitae|url=https://archive.ipcc.ch/nominations/cv/cv_youba_sokona.pdf|author=Youba Sokona|website=Archive IPCC|language=fr|access-date=1 December 2020|publication-date=}}

Youba research{{Cite web |title=Youba SOKONA |url=https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=6FYIdSQAAAAJ&hl=fr |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=scholar.google.fr}} and commentary{{Cite web |last=Darby |first=Megan |date=2020-05-28 |title=Clean energy is vital to the Covid-19 response in the world's poorest countries |url=https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/05/28/clean-energy-vital-covid-19-response-worlds-poorest-countries/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Climate Home News |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-09-15 |title=It's time to listen to African climate scientists |url=https://www.theafricareport.com/127049/its-time-to-listen-to-african-climate-scientists/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=The Africa Report.com |language=en-US}} focuses on policies{{Citation |last1=Edenhofer |first1=O. |title=Summary for policymakers |date=April 2014 |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf |others=G. Baiocchi, H. Chum, J. Fuglestvedt, H. Haberl, E. Hertwich, E. Kriegler, J. Rogelj, H.-H. Rogner, M. Schaeffer, S. J. Smith, D. van Vuuren, R. Wiser |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=en |access-date=2022-12-16 |last2=Pichs-Madruga |first2=R. |last3=Sokona |first3=Y. |last4=Agrawala |first4=S. |last5=Bashmakov |first5=I. A. |last6=Blanco |first6=G. |last7=Broome |first7=J. |last8=Bruckner |first8=T. |last9=Brunner |first9=S.}}{{Cite journal |last1=Edenhofer |first1=O. |last2=Pichs-Madruga |first2=R. |last3=Sokona |first3=Y. |last4=Seyboth |first4=K. |last5=Arvizu |first5=D. |last6=Bruckner |first6=T. |last7=Christensen |first7=John M. |last8=Devarnay |first8=J.-M. |last9=Faaij |first9=A. |last10=Fischedick |first10=M. |last11=Goldstein |first11=B. |last12=Hansen |first12=G. |last13=Huckerby |first13=J. |last14=Jäger-Waldau |first14=A. |last15=Kadner |first15=S. |date=2011 |title=Summary for Policy Makers |url=https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/summary-for-policy-makers |journal=IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation |pages=3–26 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139151153.003 |isbn=9781107023406 |language=English|url-access=subscription }} that affect energy,{{Cite journal |last1=Stiglitz |first1=Joseph E. |last2=Stern |first2=Nicholas |last3=Duan |first3=Maosheng |last4=Edenhofer |first4=Ottmar |last5=Giraud |first5=Gaël |last6=Heal |first6=Geoffrey M. |last7=la Rovere |first7=Emilio Lèbre |last8=Morris |first8=Adele |last9=Moyer |first9=Elisabeth |last10=Pangestu |first10=Mari |last11=Shukla |first11=Priyadarshi R. |last12=Sokona |first12=Youba |last13=Winkler |first13=Harald |date=2017 |title=Report of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices |url=https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-w2nc-4103 |language=en |pages=1–61 |doi=10.7916/d8-w2nc-4103|s2cid=158231148 }}{{Cite journal |last1=Sokona |first1=Youba |last2=Mulugetta |first2=Yacob |last3=Gujba |first3=Haruna |date=2012-06-01 |title=Widening energy access in Africa: Towards energy transition |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512002455 |journal=Energy Policy |series=Universal access to energy: Getting the framework right |language=en |volume=47 |pages=3–10 |doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2012.03.040 |issn=0301-4215|url-access=subscription }} desertification,{{Cite journal |last1=Vogt |first1=J. V. |last2=Safriel |first2=U. |last3=Von Maltitz |first3=G. |last4=Sokona |first4=Y. |last5=Zougmore |first5=R. |last6=Bastin |first6=G. |last7=Hill |first7=J. |date=March 2011 |title=Monitoring and assessment of land degradation and desertification: Towards new conceptual and integrated approaches |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ldr.1075 |journal=Land Degradation & Development |language=en |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=150–165 |doi=10.1002/ldr.1075|bibcode=2011LDeDe..22..150V |s2cid=129316130 |url-access=subscription }} sustainable development,{{Cite journal |last1=Sathaye |first1=Jayant |last2=Lucon |first2=Oswaldo |last3=Rahman |first3=Atiq |last4=Christensen |first4=John |last5=Denton |first5=Fatima |last6=Fujino |first6=Junichi |last7=Heath |first7=Garvin |last8=Mirza |first8=Monirul |last9=Rudnick |first9=Hugh |last10=Schlaepfer |first10=August |last11=Shmakin |first11=Andrey |last12=Angerer |first12=Gerhard |last13=Bauer |first13=Christian |last14=Bazilian |first14=Morgan |last15=Brecha |first15=Robert |date=2011-01-01 |title=Renewable Energy in the Context of Sustainable Development |url=https://ecommons.udayton.edu/phy_fac_pub/1 |journal=Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation|pages=707–790 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139151153.013 |isbn=9781107023406 |s2cid=108419488 }}{{Citation |last1=Sathaye |first1=Jayant |title=Sustainable development and mitigation |date=2007 |url=http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter12.pdf |work=Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change |pages=691–743 |editor-last=Metz |editor-first=Bert |place=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-70598-1 |access-date=2022-12-16 |last2=Najam |first2=Adil |last3=Cocklin |first3=Chris |last4=Heller |first4=Thomas |last5=Lecocq |first5=Franck |last6=Llanes-Regueiro |first6=Juan |last7=Pan |first7=Jiahua |last8=Petschel-Held |first8=Gerhard |last9=Rayner |first9=Steve |editor2-last=Davidson |editor2-first=Ogunlade |editor3-last=Bosch |editor3-first=Peter |editor4-last=Dave |editor4-first=Rutu |archive-date=2017-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908235004/http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter12.pdf |url-status=dead }} and climate change,{{Cite journal |last1=Huq |first1=Saleemul |last2=Reid |first2=Hannah |last3=Konate |first3=Mama |last4=Rahman |first4=Atiq |last5=Sokona |first5=Youba |last6=Crick |first6=Florence |date=January 2004 |title=Mainstreaming adaptation to climate change in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14693062.2004.9685508 |journal=Climate Policy |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=25–43 |doi=10.1080/14693062.2004.9685508 |s2cid=154693343 |issn=1469-3062|url-access=subscription }} particularly in Africa.{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona : " Sur le climat, l'Afrique doit éviter le piège du mimétisme avec les Occidentaux " – Jeune Afrique |url=https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1338481/societe/climat-youba-sokona-le-desavantage-des-pays-africains-est-un-avantage-enorme/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=JeuneAfrique.com |language=fr-FR}}

Sokona is a special advisor for sustainable development at the South Centre.{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona |url=https://tmg-thinktank.com/speaker/youba-sokona |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=tmg-thinktank.com |language=en}} At the same time, he is a member of many councils, organizations and institutions, a visiting professor at the University of Surrey, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) since January 2017 and until December 2022.{{cite web|title=Science Advisory Committee|url=https://iiasa.ac.at/web/home/about/leadership/sac/SAC.html|author=IIASA|website=iiasa.ac.at|language=en|date=1 December 2021|access-date=2 December 2021}} He is Special Advisor to the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines in the United States,{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona |url=https://payneinstitute.mines.edu/project/youba-sokona/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Payne Institute for Public Policy |language=en-US}} Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Center ( ACPC).{{cite web|title=Youba Sokona|url=https://www.climatecolab.org/members/profile/2223441|author=Climate CoLab|website=climatecolab.org|language=en|access-date=2 December 2021|publication-date=|archive-date=18 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918024318/https://www.climatecolab.org/members/profile/2223441|url-status=dead}}

In 1995 Youba Sokona published a Strategy for the rational use of energy in West Africa: evaluation and prospective for the organization Enda Third World where he was the co-founder of the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which he coordinated from 1987 to June 2004. In 2002, he published the article Mastering energy in West Africa.{{cite book|title=Stratégie d'utilisation rationnelle de l'énergie en Afrique de l'Ouest: évaluation et prospective|url=http://enda-cremed.org/bpd/opac_css/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=4036|author=Youba Sokona|website=Catalogue ENDA-TM| series=Etudes et Recherches |language=fr|date=1995| publisher=Enda tiers monde | isbn=9789291300075 |access-date=1 December 2021}}{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona |url=https://drawdown.psu.edu/people/youba-sokona}} In 2008 he supervised the program of the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel as executive secretary of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory.{{Cite web |title=PeerJ – Profile – Youba Sokona |url=https://peerj.com/YSokona/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=peerj.com}}{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona |url=https://www.gcsedrawdown2021.org/keynote-speakers/youba-sokona |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=NCSE Drawdown |language=en |archive-date=2023-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925124317/https://www.gcsedrawdown2021.org/keynote-speakers/youba-sokona |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona |url=https://www.responsiblebusiness.com/speakers/youba-sokona/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Responsible Business |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216112208/https://www.responsiblebusiness.com/speakers/youba-sokona/ |url-status=dead }}

Youba resigned from the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative on 30 April 2017, citing “European interference [to impose EU-preferred projects]{{Cite web |last=Darby |first=Megan |date=2017-04-27 |title=EU, France accused of hijacking 'Africa-led' clean energy scheme |url=https://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/04/27/eu-france-accused-hijacking-africa-led-clean-energy-scheme/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Climate Home News |language=en}} in African governance that belongs to another era.”{{Cite web |date=2017-04-30 |title=Africa's climate advocates balk at Europe's 'interference' in AREI plans {{!}} Africa Times |url=https://africatimes.com/2017/04/30/africas-climate-advocates-balk-at-european-interference-in-arei-plans/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=africatimes.com |language=en-US }}{{Dead link|date=October 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona – EURACTIV.com |url=https://www.euractiv.com/topics/youba-sokona/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=www.euractiv.com}}{{Cite web |last=Admin |date=2017-04-28 |title=EU must stop trying to dictate Africa's clean energy future |url=https://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/04/28/eu-must-stop-trying-dictate-africas-clean-energy-future/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Climate Home News |language=en}} The initiative was replaced in 2017 due to row over European interference.{{Cite web |last=Mathiesen |first=Karl |date=2017-05-17 |title=Ségolène Royal reveals new head for 'Africa-led' renewables scheme |url=https://climatechangenews.com/2017/05/17/segolene-royal-names-new-head-africa-led-renewables-scheme/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Climate Home News |language=en}} Youba aired his frustration that academics at African institutions are often not consulted by policymakers or governments and their research and potential solutions are being while donor's ideas are being pushed forward.{{Cite news |date=2021-11-06 |title=COP26: What African climate experts want you to know |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58982118 |access-date=2022-12-16}}{{Cite web |title=Africa needs country-specific narratives for a clean energy future – study {{!}} University of Oxford |url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2022-10-25-africa-needs-country-specific-narratives-clean-energy-future-study |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=www.ox.ac.uk |date=25 October 2022 |language=en}}

As a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and its main contributor since 1990,{{Cite book |last=Ivanova |first=Maria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSAXEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Youba+Sokona%22+-wikipedia&pg=PR38 |title=The Untold Story of the World's Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at Fifty |date=2021-02-23 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-54210-4 |language=en}} Youba Sokona has notably been co-chairman of working group III alongside Ottmar Edenhofer and Ramón Pichs Madruga, studying the role of renewable energies in the fight against climate change; their report, entitled IPCC special report on renewable energy sources and climate change mitigation,{{Cite journal |date=2011-11-21 |title=Reviewers of the IPCC Special Report |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139151153.020 |journal=Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation |pages=1033–1050 |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139151153.020|isbn=9781107023406 |url-access=subscription }} was published in 2014 in the fifth report of the IPCC.{{cite web|title=Youba Sokona|url=https://www.encyclopedie-energie.org/auteur/sokona-youba-2/|website=Encyclopédie de l'énergie|language=fr|access-date=1 December 2021|publication-date=}}{{Cite web |title=Mr. Youba Sokona {{!}} Department of Economic and Social Affairs |url=https://sdgs.un.org/panelists/mr-youba-sokona-29496 |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=sdgs.un.org}}{{cite web|title=Youba Sokona|url=https://www.ipcc.ch/people/youba-sokona/|author=GIEC|website=ipcc|language=fr|access-date=1 December 2020|publication-date=}}{{Citation |title=CDKN Adaptation Voices – Dr Youba Sokona, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LhbJ_voW1w |language=en |access-date=2022-12-16}}

In 2007, when the fourth report appeared, he was the lead author of the summary note, while being cited several times in the appendix to the Group III report;{{Cite web |title=Youba Sokona — IPCC |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/people/youba-sokona/ |access-date=2022-12-16}} this same report was part of Why IPCC received Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in the same year.{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Anna |date=2008-10-01 |title=IPCC elections: close contests |journal=Nature Climate Change |language=en |volume=1 |issue=810 |pages=122–123 |doi=10.1038/climate.2008.95 |issn=1758-6798|doi-access=free }} However, the IPCC came under unprecedented media scrutiny in 2009 in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate conference. This "Climatic Research Unit email controversy" involved the leak of emails from climate scientists. Many of these scientists were authors of the Fourth Assessment Report which came out in 2007. The discovery of an error in this report that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035 put the IPCC under further pressure.{{Cite web |last=Pearce |first=Fred |date=21 January 2010 |title=Climate chief admits error over Himalayan glaciers |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18420-climate-chief-admits-error-over-himalayan-glaciers/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}} Scientific bodies upheld the general findings of the Fourth Assessment Report and the IPCC's approach.{{Cite web |last=ICSU |date=2011-01-27 |title=ICSU releases statement on the controversy around the 4th IPCC Assessment |url=https://council.science/current/news/icsu-releases-statement-on-the-controversy-around-the-4th-ipcc-assessment/ |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=International Science Council |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=PBL |date=2010-07-06 |title=Assessing an IPCC assessment. An analysis of statements on projected regional impacts in the 2007 report |url=https://www.pbl.nl/en/publications/Assessing-an-IPCC-assessment.-An-analysis-of-statements-on-projected-regional-impacts-in-the-2007-report |access-date=2022-10-27 |website=PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency |language=en |archive-date=2023-01-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120151517/https://www.pbl.nl/en/publications/Assessing-an-IPCC-assessment.-An-analysis-of-statements-on-projected-regional-impacts-in-the-2007-report |url-status=dead }} But many people thought the IPCC should review the way it works.

{{cite news |last=Black |first=Richard |date=10 March 2010 |title=Scientists to review climate body |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8561004.stm |access-date=4 April 2010}}

Youba was elected vice-chair of IPCC in October 2015.{{Cite web |title=Film: Adaptation Voices – Dr Youba Sokona, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |url=https://cdkn.org/resource/film-adaptation-voices-dr-youba-sokona-ipcc |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Climate & Development Knowledge Network |date=21 April 2021 |language=en}}{{cite web|title=L'Afrique et le changement climatique : Youba Sokona du GIEC|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzfqdyYLefk|author=TV5 Monde|website=youtube.com|language=fr|format=mp4|date=22 September 2021|access-date=2 December 2021}}{{Cite web |title=Youba SOKONA, Vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |url=https://aec.afdb.org/en/speakers/youba-sokona-vice-chair-intergovernmental-panel-climate-change-547}}

Sokona is an honorary professor at the University College London,{{cite web|title=Conversation with Youba Sokona|url=https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/steapp/2018/01/12/conversation-with-youba-sokona/|author=Blog UCL|website=blog.ucl.ac.uk|language=en|date=12 January 2018|access-date=2 December 2021}} and was elected a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences since 2018,{{cite web|title=Youba Sokona|url=https://www.aasciences.africa/fellow/sokona-youba|author=AAS|website=aasciences.africa|language=en|date=2017|access-date=2 December 2021|archive-date=2 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202203558/https://www.aasciences.africa/fellow/sokona-youba|url-status=dead}} and a Fellow o f the World Academy of Sciences in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Sokona, Youba |url=https://twas.org/directory/sokona-youba |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=TWAS |language=en}}

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• [https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/07/05/hali-hewa-episode-2-climate-science/ Africa's leading climate scientist [Youba Sokonaon] what the climate crisis means for Africa], Hali Hewa Podcast in English

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Category:Fellows of the African Academy of Sciences

Category:Malian scientists

Category:1950 births

Category:Living people

Category:TWAS fellows

Category:Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni

Category:Mines Paris - PSL alumni

Category:Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors

Category:Malian climatologists