NAIROBI, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Scientists on Friday called on Eastern and Southern African countries to consider funding spatial science uptake at universities to create awareness on climate change and extreme weather events.
Shuaib Lwasa from Uganda's Makarere University's Department of Geography, Geo-Informatics and Climatic Sciences said in Nairobi that spatial science is capable of informing governments of problems such as outbreaks of diseases.
"The government should reconsider supporting spatial science alongside health and agriculture in an effort to solving problems and improving the living standards of the citizens," Lwasa said at the international conference on spatial science in Nairobi.
Lwasa also noted that spatial science is capable of adding substantial number of new jobs to the economy.
Galcano Mulaku from the Department of Geospatial and Space Technology at the University of Nairobi (UoN) warned that universities in the region may become irrelevant if they fail to link their research activities with the communities.
He told university heads to ensure that their colleges offer courses that meet the needs of communities since developing countries are not taking cutting-edge sciences.
"Let's collaborate with other partners to help us equip and fund our institutions to offer better training needs for the younger generation," he added.
Delegates at the conference called for an increased awareness of the technologies at policy level and also for identification of gaps that hinder institutions to utilize the products and services.
