UDS gets climate and ecosystems research centre

By Caesar Abagali, GNA
Nyankpala (N/R), Aug. 20, GNA - A new research centre for sustainability and resilience enhancement strategy against climate and ecosystems changes has been established at the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Nyankpala.

The Professor Kazuhiko Tekeuchi Centre for Sustainability and Resilience (KTCSR) is an Enhancing Resilience to Climate and Ecosystem Changes in Semi-Arid Africa: An Integrated Approach (CECAR- Africa) project.

The CECAR-Africa project is a five year (2011-2016) collaborative and interdisciplinary research project between Ghana-based universities and institutions: University for Development Studies (UDS), University of Ghana (UG), United Nations University Institute of Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA) and Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet)) and Japan-based institutions.

Others are the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), The University of Tokyo and Kyoto University) under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) and being funded by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Professor Gabriel Ayum Teye, the Vice Chancellor of UDS speaking at the Commissioning of the centre in the Nyankpala campus of UDS on Thursday, said the relevance of the timing of the collaborative research could not be over emphasized considering the impact climate change and ecosystem changes have had on developing countries.

He said universities must be more relevant and responsive to their communities in ensuring a better future in matters of pollution, global warming, poverty alleviation and disease control.

Prof Teye said UDS was well positioned to take the challenge since its curricula was designed to equip graduates with the needed skills to better serve their communities through the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme (TTFPP) and would collaborate effectively to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the project.

Prof Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Executive Director, Integrated Research Systems for Sustainability Science at the University of Tokyo, said adaptation strategies to overcome the adverse impacts of climate change, particularly in the vulnerable regions of the world, must be developed locally.

He said the project has made significant efforts aimed at building and strengthening resilience at individual, household, community and institutional levels saying 'at the community level, CECAR Africa has initiated numerous intervention strategies at its case study areas including six drought prone communities in Tolon District of the Northern region and 4 flood prone communities in the Wa West District of the Upper West region.

Major project research activities and intervention efforts include developing a regional climate change prediction model, estimating climate change by dynamical down scaling and statistical down scaling, field-work based quantitative/statistical analysis of the discrepancy between the actual and potential production, caused by climate change and technological limitation among others.

GNA