Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) has participated in a joint training to help ensure the collective scientific knowledge and ability to address issues on the African Great Lakes. The movement brought together 22 freshwater experts, students and managers from various African Great Lakes and aims to equip participants with Remote Sensing as Technology for water quality monitoring and its other applications. The training also provided a forum for developing long-term strategies for monitoring individual lakes.

While officially opening the event, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Prof. Benson Estambale representing the Vice-Chancellor challenged the various partners to start mobilizing resources for result-based research interventions and explore the many opportunities for the blue economy in the inland water. “More effort is required to build better capacity not only in terms of more technologically oriented research equipment but also on human resources to manage the equipment.: Said Prof. Estambale.

While noting that this is the second training workshop on Remote Sensing and Long term monitoring Strategy, Professor Estambale alluded confidence that the training would address declining ecosystem services and loss of biodiversity, dwindling fish catches, pollution and deteriorating water quality and quantity.

This comes against the backdrop of a collaboration between JOOUST and ACARE that will see more opportunities with other global, regional and national collaborators for research and development in the Blue Economy.

The training was sponsored by the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and facilitated by the Rochester Institute of Technology. The training was coordinated by Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization and co-hosted by the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kings College, London and JOOUST.