Capacity building on the water-energy-food security Nexus through research and training in Kenya and Uganda

Duration:
01.2017-12.2019

Financing:
APPEAR - Austrian Development Cooperation

Contact Person:
Jakob Lederer (jakob.lederer(at)tuwien.ac.at)

Project Staff:
A.Amann, G. Hepp

Partner:
TU-Wien, Forschungsbereich Ressourcenmanagement (Link)
Makerere University (Uganda)
Technical University of Kenya
University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Projecthomepage: Link

 Paper: Link

Short Description

Population and economic growth in the Kenya-Uganda border region has led to an increasing pressure on natural resources, affecting the future provision of water, energy, and food. The CapNex project aims to illustrate challenges  and pathways for a  sustainable  use of  these resources to provide water, energy, and food, and to build up capacities at university and non-university level.To do so, four interrelated case studies are designed, focusing on

1. the current and future water quantity available in the area,
2. erosion and how it affects the surface water quality in the area,
3. the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) in agriculture
4. and the cascade utilization of cattle manure by vermicomposting.

The relations between the topics covered in the case studies will be illustrated by a number  of examples and methods (e.g. sediments in rivers from eroded soils affecting water supply; reduction of erosion and increase of food production by SWC and vermicomposting). These practical examples will help to illustrate the nature of the so-called water-energy-food-security nexus in order to build up capacities at university and non-university level. For the latter, non-university stakeholders are asked to participate and  interact with university students in the research. In total, seven PhD and six Master students will be trained in the project.

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