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SFEGS Joins the Nation in Celebrating Water and Environment Week

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School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences (SFEGS) joined the rest of Uganda in the celebration of the Water and Environment Week that took place between 18th and 22nd March 2019 at the Water Resources Institute, Entebbe.

Prior to the actual week, the School as a member of the National Organising Committee and National Technical Committee participated in the pre-events such as planning and preparation and joining the “Walk for Zoka” forest.

“Walk for Zoka” was an initiative by a group of conservationists aimed at raising  Government and other actors’ awareness to take action and save Zoka forest reserve in Adjumani district whose 6,145 hectares were under threat due to encroachment and illegal logging. The walk started on 4th March 2019 at the Ministry of Water and Environment Headquarters in Kampala, Uganda.

Students and staff of SFEGS joined the walkers at Kafu Bridge along the Kampala-Gulu highway on 8th March, 2019 and participated in the restoration activities of the Kafu catchment as a strategy to raise awareness on the importance of catchment forests.

The School conducted training on 19th March, 2019 at the Water Resources Institute, Entebbe on the iRain App; a tool for global precipitation monitoring, whose user friendly interface is designed to facilitate stakeholder involvement in collecting data, as part of UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme (IHP)’s efforts to put science into action through the use of citizen science.

The School also conducted a training covering aspects of forestry entrepreneurship, nursery operations, silviculture and forest product and service development on 20th March 2019 at the same venue. Participants showed a lot of enthusiasm on forest investment and requested trainers to have more frequent and regular trainings on grounds that forests are critical in this era of climate change and improvement of the wellbeing of the population.
 
21st March is the International Day of Forests which is celebrated annually in Uganda. The School in partnership with the Forestry Sector Support Department of the Ministry of Water and Environment organized a National Forestry Dialogue which was also held at the Water Resources Institute, Entebbe under the theme, “Enhancing the contribution of Forests and Trees in attainment of Sustainable Development Goals in Uganda”.

The overarching purpose of the dialogue was to provide a platform where stakeholders would freely engage, explore and generate strategies to address the historical and contemporary threats to forests in Uganda and explore mechanisms of increasing the contribution of forests to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The dialogue was attended by students, academics, private sector, researchers, practitioners, civil servants, Civil Society and representatives of diplomatic missions and local communities.

The Dialogue started with a keynote speech from Ms. Cotilda Nakyeyune from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Uganda followed by a panel of eight experts including the Dean SFEGS Prof. Fred Babweteera moderated by Dr. Patrick Byakagaba.

The dialogue was characterised by passionate contributions from all participants. The message from participants was “we have talked a lot, it is time for action”. They summarised their views in a communique that was presented to the Prime Minister.

The key issues in the Communiqué were: the need to invest in basic forestry research, recognize the value of forests in the National Accounting system and support forest law enforcement, strengthen the forestry extension services, operationalise the “Tree Fund”, fast-track the process of passing the Uganda Forestry Association Bill 2010, promote and sustainably manage urban forests and trees, incentivize owners of private natural forests, improve forest product development through value addition and improve forest law enforcement and governance. While these commitments were voluntary, stakeholders agreed that they will be pursued by both state and non-state actors.

Please see Downloads for the Communiqué arising out of the National Forestry Stakeholders' Dialogue

Report compiled by,
CAES Communication Office.

Mark Wamai

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Special Exam Results -Diploma in Performing Arts 2025/26

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The results for the 2025/2026 special entry examination for the Diploma in Performing Arts held on Saturday 17th May, 2025. Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the Examination and have been recommended to the university’s Admissions Committee for consideration.

Mak Editor

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Mature Age Scheme Exam Results for 2025/2026

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The Office of Academic Registrar, Makerere University has released full results for the Mature Age Entry Scheme Examinations for the Academic Year 2025/2026 held on Saturday 14th December, 2024.

The Candidates who scored a final mark of 50% and above passed the examination and have been recommended by the Pre-Entry & Mature Age Committee to the University’s Admissions Board for Consideration.

The Aptitude Exam  Results for 2025/2026 Academic Year released in February 2025 can be found here.

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Call for Application: 2025 SNRM session 4 Summer School

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Participants in focused group discussions. Leiden-Delft-Erasmus East Africa Research Network (LEARN) in collaboration with the Urban Action Lab at Makerere University a workshop to deliberate strategies for mitigating the impacts of climate change in urban centres in the East African Region, Theme: “Resilient Urban Futures: Adapting Livelihoods to Climate Change”, 4th-5th September 2024, School of Public Health Auditorium, Kampala Uganda.

Context:
Natural resources in Africa are being depleted at an alarming rate due to several factors, including unsustainable human activities, climate change, and population growth. A primary condition of sustainable development is to ensure that the pressures do not exceed the environmental limits, and that demand for the resources does not exceed levels that can be sustainably provided by nature. Therefore, there is a pressing need for transformative, systems-thinking approaches and tools that can tackle the diverse challenges facing these systems. In Africa, this need is compounded by a lack of data and monitoring, which significantly hinders sustainable decision-making.

Investing in young scientists who are committed to take lead in sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources is very important. Capacity building of young scientists will enhance their knowledge and skill on sustainable natural resources and their involvement for implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) in Africa. To this effect, SNRM summer schools have been implemented in three sessions in 2019, 2020, and 2022 with support from Volkswagen Foundation; to build a critical mass of skilled and competent young natural resource scientists in Africa through training, capacity building and mentorship. Session 4 (2025) will target competent young scientists (MSc and PhD students) in Africa and Germany to further develop their knowledge and skills in systems thinking, advanced data collection and analysis, and application of emerging digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT), and embracing transdisciplinary approaches. In addition, we include an ideation workshop where students can work on real problems to come up with solutions for sustainable transformations in natural resource use.

Organizers: Leibniz Universität – Hannover (Germany), University of Antananarivo, University of Abomey Calavi (Benin), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana (Ghana), University of Parakou (Benin), The Technical University of Kenya, with financial support from the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).

Venue and dates: Nairobi, Kenya, 16-28 November 2025

Target: MSc and PhD students, early in the program of less than 35 years of age from any university/research institution in either sub-Saharan Africa or Germany with an interest in natural resources management.

Participants and Scholarships: The course is fully funded and open to 20 MSc and PhD students from Africa, and 5 from Germany. Funding will cover the costs of air ticket, accommodation, meals, visa, and transportation. However, participants will cover the cost of their travel health insurance.

Topics

SNRM Summer School Session 4: Transformative pathways in biodiversity management and conservation.
This summer school is designed to deliver four modules over a two-week period. The modules are designed to enable the students to acquire new ways of designing data collection protocols and analysis for transformative sustainable natural resources management.

Module 4.1: Data collection I
Skills in data collection for a transformative and sustainable management of natural resources (water, wildlife, forest, land, livestock, crops) monitoring and data collection techniques; remote monitoring tools, earth observation system data, e.g. satellite data sources, LIDAR, and UAV aerial images. Collect and analyse In-situ data on biotic and abiotic parameters, map and analyse data using R or Google Earth Engine, field data collection and retrieving data from online databases.

Module 4.2 Data management and processing
Introduction to tools and methods of managing large and diverse data sets of natural resources such as time series, spatial, directional, and multivariate data. Practicals will include data storage, organization and conversion into various formats using databases such as PostgreSQL and statistical programming software such as R and Python; scripts.

Module 4.3 Ecological monitoring, modelling and management
This module aims to teach participants how to anticipate and validate trends that can be observed in various ecosystems. Lectures include ecological monitoring and its design; population monitoring studies; metrics in population monitoring; methods for monitoring and assessing marine ecosystems; human ecology to socio-ecological systems; climate change impact of ecosystems; suitability assessments; overview of the principles underlying wildlife monitoring and prediction systems for climate change adaptation. Practicals will include field data collection (individual and group); ecological data analysis using R or PAST; modelling and experiencing the behaviour of complex systems using Vensim.

Module 4.4 Natural habitat restoration ideation lab
This module is designed to spur students’ innovation and creativity, and to help students comprehensively identify interdependencies across the 17 SDG goals. Participants will be trained on ideation processes for solutions and intervention for transformative natural resource management. They will work collaboratively in small groups on case studies and develop pathways of transformative sustainable natural resource management. Examples of projects include forest (mangrove) ecosystem and habitat restoration, improved technologies for agricultural production, nature-based solutions for improving water quality, and reversing land degradation.

Language: The course will be delivered in English. Participants are expected to be fluent in writing and speaking the English language.

How to apply

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from https://snrmafrica.com/ and submit the following documents in English through the system.

  • a curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
  • a letter of motivation (maximum 1 page)
  • a confirmation of university enrolment
  • a reference letter from the academic supervisor
  • project summary of MSc/ PhD project (1 page including objectives, methodology
    and key findings or expected outcomes).

Important dates
Application deadline: 30th June 2025.
Announcement of accepted applicants: 15th August 2025.
Confirmation of attendance by selected participants: 12th Sept 2025.
Summer school held: 16 – 28 Nov 2025.

Further information is available from

The secretariat info@snrmafrica.com
Dr Lydia Olaka lydiaolaka@tukenya.ac.ke
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Stuetzel stuetzel@gem.uni-hannover.de

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