African centre to advance freshwater expertise
A GROUP of professionals from North America, Europe, and Africa has developed an institute for increasing the capacity of African freshwater experts.
The overall goals of the African Centre for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE) are to positively affect policy and manage- ment on Africa’s Great Lakes, the centre’s executive director, Ted Lawrence, wrote on the Sarnissa (Sustainable Aquaculture Research Networks for Sub-Saharan Africa) Facebook page.
To do this, ACARE will serve as a longterm, collaborative centre of excellence dedicated to increas- ing the capacity of Africa’s next generation of freshwater scientists, managers, and politicians through courses, training, and education.
Lawrence called for partners to identify future research and strengthen collaborative relationships on the African Great Lakes; determine gaps in experiential education on freshwater resources within the community, and develop curricula to address these gaps based on the first objective; and discuss the feasibility of creating a lake committee system to organise sustainable resource management and research.