Addis Ababa: Ethiopian higher education institutions have been urged to increase their role through rigorous research to mitigate climate-induced impacts and realize the country’s green economy strategy.
The Ministry of Planning and Development, recently mandated to lead coordination of environment and climate change issues, is hosting a half-day consultative workshop under the theme: ‘Towards a Greater Engagement of Universities on Climate Change Issues in Ethiopia.’
The workshop brought together university presidents from across the country, representatives from the Ministry of Education, key climate implementing ministries, and heads of selected research institutes.
Accordingly, the participants are discussing strategies and initiatives developed by Ethiopia to address climate change.
The workshop is also believed to serve as a platform for networking and collaboration on the impacts of climate change.
In his remarks, State Minister of Planning and Development, Seyoum Mekonen stated that climate chang
e has been becoming one of the pressing issues in Ethiopia.
For this reason, the government of Ethiopia has embarked on the implementation of Green Legacy Initiative to promote a healthy environment in Ethiopia by restoring ecosystems, mitigating climate change, and fostering environmental awareness.
According to the state minister, the initiative has been playing a paramount role in mitigating climate change impacts.
Seyoum also mentioned the ‘Bounty of the Basket’ (Yelemat Turifat), a national agricultural development initiative and summer farming activities are helping the nation’s efforts to put an end to aid dependency in Ethiopia, beyond dealing with climate change.
He pointed out that with the planting billion of seedlings in the past five years, the affected areas have been able to recover, he indicated.
In order to help mitigate the pressure of climate change, the state minister stressed on the need to engaging universities in the areas of capacity building, research, and other activities.
In
particular, he emphasized on establishing favorable systems to university scholars that allow their academic work to be utilized as a resource of knowledge for policy development.
He urged universities to contribute and implement the outcomes of innovation and technology in order to protect cities and regions from the adverse consequences of climate change.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency