MINISTER of State in the Vice-President's Office (Union and Environment), Mr Suleiman Jafo has said the country needs scientific answers to mitigate climate change impact.
Speaking at a meeting organised by the University of Dar es Salaam's Institute of Resource Assessment (IRA), which celebrated 40 years of competence yesterday, Mr Jafo said that the institute has the noble responsibility to contribute towards realisation of international obligations committed by the government.
He said the answer can be available by researchers and environmental stakeholders to conduct various environmental studies related to climate change, which will help in a good policy implementation plan in various sectors to help the country and ensure the economy moves forward.
"It is now the responsibility of researchers in universities to increase efforts so that we can find policies and laws to control this situation more efficiently and realize our promise.
"We need to get scientific recommendations that will inform the system of our country about how we will come up with political and economic plans that will focus more on the whole issue of fighting environmental damage," Jafo said.
Mr Jafo asked the environmental stakeholders in the country to cooperate by helping to establish resilience against the effects of climate change, such as building edges capable of preventing rivers and seas from breaking the sets and causing harm in the community.
On his part, the University of Dar es Salaam Vice-Chancellor, Professor William Anangisye said that it is responsibilities of the university to conduct research that will help the government formulate appropriate policies in addressing various challenges.
"We committed more than 3bn/- for academics to be able to conduct research in various areas, including the environment and the fight against climate change threat," Prof Anangisye said.
The IRA Director, Professor Joel Nobert said the institution has already conducted various studies using remote sensing technology that uses satellites to monitor the speed of climate change.
"We have been coming up with nature-based solutions, efforts that we will continue with considering the needs of the nation as instructed by the responsible minister as this has been one of our biggest responsibilities," Prof Nobert said.
