Africa-Press – Tanzania. UNIVERSITY of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Centre for Climate Change Studies and the Government of Norway have launched a joint project of 5bn/- in Dar es Salaam for research on climate change, and energy resources sustainability.
Presiding over the launch on Tuesday, the director of the centre, Prof Pius Yanda said they will focus on the issues of natural gas in Lindi and Mtwara regions that are endowed with the natural gas.
He further said the project will involve conducting researches on how climate change is affecting the lives of citizens in the Coastal regions, and how they can cope with it.
Elaborating, Prof Yanda noted that the project would concentrate on looking at how climate change was affecting the residents and biodiversity in the maritime zone.
Adding, “We shall look at how the investments in the natural gas benefit the locals amid climate change effects and what could be done so that they get more profit.
“We are looking at all these things and despite assurance that they bring benefits, to what extent are they sustainable? And how can we improve and make the residents and the country at large benefit as sustainable livelihood source?” posed the director.
Commenting, UDSM Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Bernadeta Killian, on behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof William Anangisye, said for more than seven years, Norway has been conducting some capacity building programs for higher learning institutions.
“UDSM and other universities in East Africa have been the beneficiaries of the funding and doing researches on various fields including climate change. All these demonstrate good relations between the universities and Norway,” said Prof Killian.
In a related development, she said several Tanzanians have studied in Norway and the country also doing research in locally-a gesture that the two nations still enjoy amicable relations.
“The University of Dar es Salaam has benefited a lot from the support of NORAD and other Norwegian funding agencies for many years. The support has been through research and capacity building and also seeing a good number of our staff being trained in Norway,” she further said.
Elaborating, Prof Killian said the finding would be used to boost knowledge and improve policy making skills and planning in the country.
On her part, Norway ambassador to Tanzania, Elizabeth Jacobsen said her country has been a development partner to Tanzania for more than 50 years.
“We are building a strong link based on research and development, because the study on climate change and social life would change lives,” she pointed out.
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