Wind engineering in Africa

The International Association for Wind Engineering (IAWE) has very few contacts in Africa, the second-largest continent. This paper reviews important wind-related African issues. They all require data on wind climate, which are very sparse in Africa. Wind engineering in Africa can assist in collecting data on wind climate, developing wind energy, reducing the adverse effects of wind and related drifting sand in building activities and agriculture, and limiting other wind-related disasters, in environment and ecology, such as those caused by erosion and fire. The paper aims to encourage Africa-oriented supportive research, especially better data coverage; quality control of existing data; search of historical archives; generation of data by numerical weather analyses; and validation of extrapolation techniques. We envisage promising cooperation with Africa, despite the fact that African countries do not currently participate in the international exchange and cooperation in these fields. African priorities presently seem to be different, while funds and other facilities are lacking. Capacity building in wind engineering and support issues should be initiated by agencies such as UNEP, FAO, EU, WMO, NGOs, etc. The necessity of professional wind engineering input in these activities should also be recognized. Interaction of IAWE with these agencies is necessary.