Climate research centre for southern African region

April 25, 2012 12:15 am | Updated 12:15 am IST

Five countries in southern Africa have joined forces to launch a research centre that will work on combating climate change in the region. South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia signed a declaration on Wednesday to base the initiative in the Namibian capital Windhoek.

The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal) is intended to support cross-border research and land management.

Ministers from the five countries were joined by Annette Schavan, Germany's Science Minister. Germany is providing €50m in aid for the first four years.

Scientists based in Namibia estimate southern Africa will suffer double the average rise in global temperature because of its regional air circulation system. This could devastate agriculture and result in severe food and water shortages.

John Mutorwa, Namibia's Agriculture Minister, said: “It is forecast that the region will be hard-hit by the effects of climate change, leading to the spread of deserts, water shortages, loss of fertile soil, biodiversity and agricultural output.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people could be displaced, aggravating poverty and increasing the spread of vector-borne diseases and epidemics such as malaria, meningitis and cholera.”

“Clearly, nations need to coordinate and communicate across political borders to jointly prepare for climate change.” Namibia said the centre, due to open in August, will equip regional researchers and decision makers with scientific data and services to address future trends of global climate change, the vulnerability of societies and ecosystems, and the potential for improved natural resource management and services.

A similar facility was recently set up among 10 west African countries, also supported and funded by Germany. © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2012

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.