Richard Munang 

Dr. Richard MunangAdjunct Research Professor  

E-mail:  rmunang@uwo.ca

Appointments 

Research Cluster Membership

Research Interests

  • Climate & Health;
  • One Health; Planetary Health;
  • Policy–Practice Translation (Global South)
  • Climate Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Epidemiology;
  • Air Pollution & Early Warning;
  • Water Quality;
  • Food Safety & Mycotoxins;
  • Adaptation & Resilience;
  • Citizen Science & Data Systems;
  • Sustainable Finance for Climate Action;
  • Youth Enterprise & Climatepreneurship;

Education

  • PhD, Environmental Change & Policy — University of Nottingham
  • Executive Certificate, Climate Change & Energy Policy — Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University

Awards

  • AfrikaVuka Award (2024)
  • Your University of Nottingham Alumni Award (2023)
  • Africa Green Champion Award (2020)
  • Africa Environmental Hero Award (2016)
  • UN Environment Programme BAOBAB Award (2016)

Short Bio

Dr. Richard Munang is an award-winning environmental and development policy leader, recognized among the Top 50 Global Sustainability Thought Leaders (2023) and Top 100 Africa & Middle East Sustainability Voices (2025). He holds a PhD in Environmental Change and Policy (University of Nottingham) and an Executive Certificate in Climate Change and Energy Policy (Harvard Kennedy School).

With over 16 years at the science–policy–practice interface, he has advanced solutions linking climate, health, ecosystems, and livelihoods across more than 50 countries. His work has spanned air, water, and ocean monitoring, early warning systems, and embedding data-driven decision-making into policies addressing climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. He pioneered the Africa Adaptation Gap Report series, founded the Ecosystems-Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA), and created the Innovative Volunteerism mentorship model, enabling youth to turn climate challenges into enterprise opportunities. He also led the first-ever development of a climate entrepreneurship curriculum in two African universities.

A former research fellow and lecturer in Europe, Dr. Munang has published over 500 articles and authored two books. His recognitions include the Africa Environmental Hero Award, Africa Green Champion Award, Your Nottingham Alumni Award, and AfrikaVuka Award.

This role is undertaken in a personal academic capacity; views expressed are personal and do not represent any organization.

 Learn more about Dr. Richard Munang by visiting LinkedIn and Google Scholar. 

Selected Publications 

    1. Munang R, (2024). Evaluating Evidence-Based Ecosystem-Based Adaptation for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA) and NSUK Initiatives: Decarbonization, Clean Cooking Energy Promotion, and Cassava Food Chain Entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Social Entrepreneurship Review, 1, 128–139. doi:10.15678/SER.2024.1.002
    2. Munang R, Mgendi R. (2024). A Global Gasp: The Unseen Peril in Our Air. International Policy Digest. 
    3. Munang R, Mgendi R. (2018). Africa’s Broken Food Systems: Unravelling the Hidden Fortune under Climate Change. In Global Change and Future Earth: The Geoscience Perspective, pp. 187–202. 
    4. Davies A, Wilson C, Otto I, Whitmarsh L, Munang R. (2021). Engaging people as agents of change. 
    5. Munang R, Mgendi R. (2017). Paris Agreement on Climate Change: One Year Later, How Is Africa Faring? Africa Renewal, 31(1), 32–33.
    6. Munang R, Opiyo F, Wasonga OV, et al. Determinants of perceptions of climate change and adaptation among Turkana pastoralists in northwestern Kenya. Climate and Development 8(2):179–189 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2015.1034231
    7. Opiyo F, Wasonga O, Nyangito M, Schilling J, Munang R. Drought adaptation and coping strategies among the Turkana pastoralists of northern Kenya. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science 6(3):295–309 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13753-015-0063-4
    8. Munang R, Thiaw I, Alverson K, Liu J, Han Z. The role of ecosystem services in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5(1):47–52 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2013.02.002
    9. Munang R, Thiaw I, Alverson K, Mumba M, Liu J, Rivington M. Climate change and Ecosystem-based Adaptation: a new pragmatic approach to buffering climate change impacts. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 5(1):67–71 (2013). (ScienceDirect listing for the issue) 
    10. Munang R, Nkem JN, Han Z. Using data digitalization to inform climate change adaptation policy: Informing the future using the present. Weather and Climate Extremes 1:17–18 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2013.07.001
    11. Munang R, Thiaw I, Alverson K, Goumandakoye M, Mebratu D, Liu J. Using ecosystem-based adaptation actions to tackle food insecurity. Environment: Science & Policy for Sustainable Development 55(1):29–35 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2013.748395
    12. Laux P, Jäckel G, Tingem RM, Kunstmann H. Impact of climate change on agricultural productivity under rainfed conditions in Cameroon—A method to improve attainable crop yields by planting date adaptations. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 150(9):1258–1271 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2010.05.008 

 

Full list of the publications is on Google Scholar.