Mark Purdon of the University of Toronto (Canada) carried -out research in collaboration at EfD Tanzania on climate change policy. The subject is the performance of existing projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s carbon offset system Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) operating in Tanzania and their contribution to sustainable regional development, with a focus on land governance.
Mark Purdon is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science in Toronto with a background in environmental science and policy. He met Dr. Razack Lokina and Dr. Elizabeth Robinson of EfDT at the 2008 EAERE conference in Sweden, from which the research collaboration was borne. Mark has worked on climate change policy research and capacity-building with UNDP, CIDA, the Government of Cameroon, REAP-Canada (a leading Canadian bioenergy think-tank) and the private sector in Canada, East & West Africa and Eastern Europe. In addition, he is also involved with Canadian and international environmental circles through the Canadian Environmental Network.
Mark gave a seminar on his research project in January 2009 at the University of Dar es Salaam where also EfD members participate and intends to participate in further seminars on climate change policy with EfD Tanzania, hopefully in conjunction with the University of Dar es Salaam’s Institute for Resource Assessment (IRA). He was in Tanzania up to 21June, 2009 where he travelled to Moldova to conduct similar research there.