COMMENT OBITUARY Calestous Juma (1953-2017) International-affairs scholar who championed science for African development.

frica,” Calestous Juma wrote countries leapfrog industrialized nations. to me in 2015, “is diverging Juma’s optimism and appetite for between those who want to talk action was at odds with the lumbering and“ those A who want to do something bureaucracy of African policymaking. practical.” Juma was one of the latter. An He was often frustrated with the slow MARTHA STEWART international-development scholar, he pace of implementation, and it irked championed the harnessing of science, him that science and technology technology and innovation for develop- policies were drawn up separately ment. He founded Africa’s first science- from relevant economic, industrial policy think tank, led major United and social-development policies. He Nations science initiatives and wrote rejected the view that science could influential books. Juma, a Kenyan pro- drive development through targeted fessor at the Harvard Kennedy School’s calls from funding agencies for proposals Belfer Center for Science and Inter- from academics in ivory towers. Rather, national Affairs, died in Cambridge, he believed in training young Africans Massachusetts, on 15 December, at the to be entrepreneurs and engineers, by age of 64. investing in infrastructure such as roads Juma’s trademark mix of candour and broadband networks and unlocking and humour inspired many African presi- out the threats of modern biotechnology African curiosity and ingenuity. “Really, I’m dents, including Paul Kagame of Rwanda, to and its potential for solving food insecurity, just a cheerleader for African leaders and invest in national and continental research especially in developing nations. youth,” he told the Huffington Post in 2014. schemes. For African academics, Juma was In 1995, Juma moved to Canada to Juma was no stranger to controversy. His an ally connected to the world’s most power- serve as the first executive director of the support for biotechnology in developing ful presidents and prime ministers. Yet he was United Nations Convention on Biological countries saw him lock horns with people loved for his approachability — especially by Diversity, which he helped to negotiate who were lobbying against genetically journalists such as me, with whom he shared with policy bodies such as the Food and modified organisms. His book Innovation a special bond. Agriculture Organization of the UN. He and Its Enemies (Oxford Univ. Press, 2016) Born in 1953, Juma grew up in Busia enjoyed engaging scholars, diplomats and charted the battle between “innovation and County, western Kenya, on the shores of researchers in discussions about conservation incumbency” throughout human history. Lake Victoria. His childhood was plagued by and sustainable biodiversity. The resulting He showed how the fears that led people bouts of malaria. To help pay his school fees, international agreement on handling the to initially reject novelties such as coffee, Juma fixed broken radios and record players. products of modern biotechnology, the margarine and printing rarely came to pass. Unable to afford university, he trained as a Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, was adopted Juma leaves a lasting legacy, not least science teacher, but got a job reporting on in 2000, after Juma left the organization. Juma through the people he met and inspired with science and the environment after an editor at felt that it placed too many restrictions on the his inquisitiveness and mischievous approach. Kenya’s Daily Nation spotted his exceptional use of genetically modified crops in Africa. His graduate courses at Harvard on the role talent for writing in letters Juma submitted In 1998, Juma moved to Harvard to of innovation in economic growth and the to the newspaper. In 1979, he went to work think and write. He spent the early 2000s global economic impacts of biotechnology for the non-governmental organization coordinating a UN task force on how were popular — in part because of his Environment Liaison Centre, based in science and technology could assist with the entertaining lecturing style. True to his vision Nairobi, as a researcher and editor. He went attainment of the Millennium Development of getting academic thought out into the real on to receive a scholarship to study science Goals, notably eradicating hunger and world, he also taught an executive course for policy at the University of Sussex, UK, where ensuring environmental sustainability. He senior policymakers and practitioners on he completed his PhD in 1987. influenced Africa’s 2005 science plan, which how to integrate science and technology into Juma returned to Kenya to create the created continental schemes to boost research national development policies. African Centre for Technology Studies under the auspices of the African Union and Juma was modest about his achievements, (ACTS) in Nairobi. ACTS, which opened in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and sanguine about failure, both his own and 1988, helped to draft Kenya’s first industrial- in Midrand, South Africa. One of its fruits is others’. Development, he maintained, was by property legislation, leading to the creation the Southern Africa Network for Biosciences, its nature experimental, and Africans must be of the country’s patent office. At ACTS, an initiative based in Pretoria that provides allowed to experiment — to make mistakes, Juma directed a Canada-funded project African researchers with access to world-class and to learn from them. ■ called Economic Reform and Environment labs for work on agriculture and health. in Africa, which explored the links between In 2007, Juma was the keynote speaker at Linda Nordling is a science writer based in economic development and conservation the first African Union summit that had a Cape Town, South Africa. She knew Juma management. Drawing on a three-year project focus on science and technology. He urged from 2005, in her role as founding editor of in Africa, he published The Gene Hunters the heads of state, gathered in Addis Ababa, Research Africa, an online research-policy (Princeton Univ. Press) in 1989, which set Ethiopia, to harness knowledge to help their news portal. She tweets as @lindanordling.

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