The Department of Geosciences hosted the annual meeting of the NORHED II project: Climate Change and Ecosystems Management in Malawi and Tanzania, from 16. to 21. June in Oslo.
This project is a collaboration involving researchers from universities and partners in Norway and Africa, and it is funded by NORAD in the NORHED II programme.
Sustainable management of water resources and fragile ecosystems
The research project is organized around objectives for understanding, improvement and better management of water resources and fragile ecosystems on one hand and capacity building on the other.
The overall goal is to strengthen research capacity and capabilities in institutions in Malawi and Tanzania to carry out impactful research that leads to positive policy/practice change for sustainable management of water resources and fragile ecosystems, vulnerable to climate change and local anthropogenic activities and to ensure that this capacity is propagated even after the project.
The research project is led by Chong-Yu Xu, Professor of Hydrology, Department of Geosciences at University of Oslo. Find more information about the project at the webpages: Climate Change and Ecosystems Management in Malawi and Tanzania.
With water and ecosystems on the agenda
The participants enjoyed a full day programme this week. On the schedule were presentations of project results, discussions of current, relevant issues in the project, presentations from PhD-Research Fellows and MSc-students, networking and supervision activities. Totally 8 Ph.D. students and 20 master's students have received grants from the project. Also staff from the NORHED II adminstration and financial officers at UiO participated at part of the program; Tone Hoff Karabiyik, Ellen Ness Malm, Madeleine Olsnes Fredriksen, Hema Awasthi.
The meeting had near 30 participants, both from the projects academic staff and students. The project institutions had 10 participants from University of Oslo, but also long travelling participants from University of Malawi (7), University of Mzuzu (5), and University of Dar es Salaam (7).
Online presentation and discussion were also implemented for those who planned but failed to come to the meeting due to the delay of visa and/or other reasons. Senior Executive Officer Anita Sørlie, Dept of Geosciences was the adminstrative coordinator and sentral in the planning of the meeting.
From group work and discussions to field excursion to Norways most voluminous river
Also group work sessions and discussions served as productive arenas for the participants to share information about their work and knowledge gained in the projects research in the participating countries.
Field excursion was carried out along the downstream of Glomma River to visit the Solbergfoss hydropower plant and water resources management projects in Norway, and the field excursions was led by Prof. Em. Nils Roar Sælthun, UiO. Glomma river is Norway's longest and most voluminous river, with a drainage area of 42000 km2.
Another field excursion was to the Lake Øyeren where the group got an introduction to regulation of the lake, flooding problems, introduction to the delta (Svellet) and the ecology of the lake.
Participating members in the project
The University of Oslo, Department of Geosciences, was the host of the annual meeting June 16-21, 2024 in Oslo. Several institutions participating in the project, and are:
- University of Oslo, Department of Geosciences (Norway)
- University of Malawi, Faculty of Science (Malawi) *
- Mzuzu University, Research and Development Directorate (Malawi)
- University of Dar es Salaam, Institute of Resource Assessment (Tanzania)
* Read a news article from University of Malawi about the meeting: UNIMA researchers visit Norway for NORAD NORHED II Project Meeting
Acknowledgement
The project is financed by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), through the Norwegian NORAD/NORHED II programme.