The Oliver Tambo Africa Research Chair Initiative (OTARChI) awarded one of the Chairs designated “Ecosystem-based Adaptation (to climate change) in Arid and Semi-arid zones (ESORCCAS)” to the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), Maputo, Mozambique. The project is financed through the Mozambique National Research Fund (FNI) and will be implemented in the Limpopo Corridor Region, under the coordination UEM with participation of national and international higher education institutions, including the Instituto Politécnico de Gaza, University of Pretoria, the University of Namibia, and the University of Cape Town. The main focus of the project is to promote research, teaching, and to support society, through science-based knowledge.
The Chair intends to hire a postdoctoral researcher, who will work directly with Professor Almeida Sitoe. This researcher will work on the integration of different socio-ecological elements in the Limpopo Corridor region, Mozambique, from the point of view of ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change. The aim of the Chair’s research project is to systematically assess the socio-ecological interactions of the arid and semi-arid areas of the Limpopo Corridor, with a view to producing science-based knowledge to support policy and development. The overall hypothesis of the project is that ecosystem services and local organizations are the primary factors that determine local adaptation strategies and therefore increase community resilience at relatively low cost. Four work packages have been created to address the problem, focusing on the interactions between natural (climate and ecosystem interactions: WP1 and social (human systems in formal and informal institutions: WP2), resource utilization patterns for the delivery of ecosystem services (WP3), and the integration of social and ecological systems, including the technologies used to achieve delivery of ecosystem services (WP4). Additional project details can be found on the website: www.olivertambo.uem.mz
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