EMA seeks to cure research deficiency with scientific journal
CRITICS have often cited the lack of localised scientific research as a major obstacle to the design and implementation of relevant policies and strategies that tackle challenges brought on by climate change.
Now, environment regulator EMA is seeking to ease that problem with the launch of its new scientific publication called The Journal of Environmental Management in Zimbabwe (Jemz).
“This novel publication will publish peer reviewed original research related to managing environmental systems and improving environmental quality,” said the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), in a call for proposals.
“The journal will provide a platform for discussing environmental issues with stakeholders concerned, among the issues being the sustainable use of environmental resources,” it added.
The regulator did not clarify the frequency with which Jemz will be published. Some of the areas of interest that have a direct or indirect bearing on climate change that the EMA journal will focus on include waste management, pollution and environmental law enforcement.
An even more interesting aspect is that qualifying researches must agree to have their work made available “within Government repository.”
This is crucial because it supposes that central Government, together with its agencies involved with addressing environmental issues, including climate change, will have direct access to local tested scientific research useful for policy design and implementation.
With Jemz, the regulator appears intent on building a treasure trove of knowledge that policymakers, includihg the Environmental Management Agency itself, can always call upon in their continous quest to end the unyielding environmental ills of our time.
EMA, which has already been working with students and researchers from local universities, has also unveiled a grant for students studying towards their masters degrees targeting environmental management as a major focus area of research.
It is important for a country like Zimbabwe is to undertake localised and targeted research — curated in a local journal — that highlights the true impact of environmental impact either resulting from climate change or other human activities, particularly on the community’s most vulnerable people.
Reports from institutions such as Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have faced criticism for their superficial approach to African problems mainly because of a lack of locally-funded research that tells the true African story, say on humanitarian impact or traditional methods of beating climate change. Research that is foreign funded tends to reflect views desired by the funder.
For example, the 2014 Fifth Assessment Report, a respected global climate publication, drew input from over 300 scientists from across the world. Chapter 22 of the Working Group II’s input to the Fifth Assessment Report, the section that reports on Africa, was written by 55 contributing authors, 5 lead authors and two coordinating lead authors.
Of the contributing authors, only one was from Zimbabwe, a Mzime R. Ndebele-Murisa. Although the co-ordinating lead authors were from Senegal and Namibia, at least 27 of all the authors who contributed to the chapter on Africa were not from Africa.
These came from countries such as the UK, US, Germany, Netherlands, Bulgaria, France and Mexico. In Africa, most of the authors came from South Africa which had more than 10 contributors followed by Nigeria’s 5 and Senegal 4.
The selection criteria could not be immediately established, but the figures show that nearly 50 percent of the authors writing on Africa in the IPCC’s report were foreigners, whose knowledge of the continent is likely only from a scientific standpoint.
Local scientists argue that situations like these lead to the creation of wrong prescriptions to the climate change problem in Africa; responses designed in global conference rooms, far detached from reality.
“The projections (IPCC’s) are quite coarse. You need to refine them so they target specific areas, specific agricultural activities and specific time-frames. That has so far been the limitation,” observed Elisha Moyo, a local climate change researcher, in a past interview.
“The IPCC only takes care of published meteorological material to come up with its own reports. There has not been that much material published in local journals due to lack of funding. As a result, there is limited work from Zimbabwe and Africa that is contained in the final IPCC reports. These are controlled reports and we stand as spectators,” he said. God is faithful.
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