CENTER HOLDS NATIONAL WORKSHOP
BDU: The Water and Water Related Research Center of Bahir Dar University (BDU) recently conducted awareness creation national workshop on ‘Wetlands for Sustainable Development and Climate Change Mitigation’.
Goraw Goshu, the Coordinator of the workshop explained that the center was initiated to make BDU the center of excellence in water and water related areas in the country as the University considered it as one of its thematic areas of research.
The objective of the workshop was to create awareness, share knowledge, establish links and identify roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders as well as to discuss ways of turning wetlands, which had been labeled as ‘’mosquito breeding grounds’’ or ’’waste lands’’ into more worthy lands through conservation.
During the workshop, the Dean, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Dr. Eneyew Adgo remarked, “Wetlands are vital to mitigate climate change, purify water for drinking, maintain ecological balance, home for animals and plants, tourist attraction sites, as well as, would be employed, and an instrument to tackle food insecurity if its properly managed.’’
While addressing participants, BDU’s President Dr. Baylie Damtie noted that research accomplishments and outcomes of research findings could be utilized to influence policy makers to enhance their performance in various sectors.
He claimed, “Workshop of such nature would help us achieve our objectives of making BDU the hub of research as its clearly outlined in the Five Year’s Strategic Plan.’’
The workshop was organized in collaboration with Addis Ababa University, Federal Government and Non Government organizations. During the workshop, researchers presented 10 research works on wetland policy and management, external threats on wetlands and climate change, water quality, diversity of amphibians and other related areas.
The participants were drawn from universities, Federal and Regional Governments, research institutes, other related sectors, and Non government organizations.