Environment for Development Initiative (EfD-Mak) Centre on 7th November 2019 hosted its first policy dialogue on Governance and Natural Resources at the Senate Conference Room Makerere University.
The objective was to share research findings the university had come up with that guide government in policy implementation.
The event attracted over 150 participants from public and private sector, research institutions, civil society organizations, representatives from government ministries and agencies, development partners, staff and student from Makerere
University among others .The Research Manager at the EfD secretariat based at Gothenburg University, Sweden, Dr. Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah also graced the occasion.
The half day dialogue organized under the theme, “Governance and Natural Resource Utilization: Challenges, Gaps and Opportunities” was officially opened by Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe while the Keynote address was delivered by the Executive Director National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). Dr. Patrick Byakagaba from the Department of Environmental Management gave the main presentation.
In his opening remarks the Vice Chancellor welcomed and appreciated participants for continued engagement and support to Makerere university and expressed hope for continued partnership in research and policy development.
Prof. Nawangwe observed that unlike the past when villages were covered with natural vegetation with plenty of trees and wild animals with readily available land for food production, today, most parts the country wer growing into urban settings, largely unplanned, eating up all the agricultural land with families looking forward to town dwellers to give them food.
“This transformation is a big problem that all of us in academia, policy makers and implementers in government must handle serious and the issue of high population growth putting a lot pressure on natural resources.
Natural resources are crucial sources of ecosystem service provision and are potential drivers of development. This is only true provided that research based policies are put in place to sustainably use these resources in appropriate boundaries ”, The Vice Chancellor said.
He noted that initiatives like the EfD are important in countries where majority of people depend directly on soil, water, forests and fisheries for their livelihoods.
“We as Makerere University appreciate the relevance of Environment and Natural resources in fostering economic development. However, for environment and natural resources to play this role, governance is supposed to be at its best.
There are existing policy gaps that may hinder the sustainable utilization of the environment and natural resources and this include the human capacity resource gap, knowledge gap, the communication gap and the institutional gap. However, we are glad that EfD Secretariate gave us this opportunity as Makerere university to host this centre ”, Professor Nawangwe added.
The Vice Chancellor extended appreciation to Prof. Edward Bbaale and Prof. Johnny Mugisha with colleagues upon successfully securing the EfD centre at Makerere university and Uganda .
The Vice Chancellor affirmed that through commitment and dedication staff affiliated to this center, the university will bridge the nation gaps and act as a hub for quality training, research and policy engagement in environmental economics and development in the Africa region and beyond.
This, he said, is to be achieved through providing high quality relevant policy research, offering graduate training support, policy engagement and outreach in the realm of environment and development economics in order to enhance sound environmental management and natural resource utilization for sustainable development.
“And I must say that this is a very good example of inter multidisciplinary collaboration which is largely needed now in this country. I have no doubt that this centre is going to be successful given the enormous capacity that has been built at Makerere university over years”, Prof. Nawangwe stated.
Details click on this link: http://caes.mak.ac.ug/uncategorized/efd-mak-centre-hosts-policy-dialogu…