Pinehas Nakaziko
Windhoek-A Master of Science (Environmental Science) student at the University of Namibia (Unam) is encouraging young people to focus on research in their various disciplines.
Nahas Enkono says young people must play their part and meet the government half way in contributing to their country’s economy by doing research in different fields.
“Currently Namibia is faced with issues such as climate change and food insecurity, hence the need for the young ones to do their part. Areas such as soil sciences studies, agriculture and broad environmental issues are hotspot topics of concern to Namibia,” Enkono observed.
“This includes addressing issues of land degradation, loss of agricultural output, water access and availability, as well as changes in vegetation density.”
He adds that these areas are of great importance for the country and need to be seriously looked at, because they are in line with Fifth National Development Plan (NDP5) and the Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) for Namibia.
“Addressing issues of food security, sustainability development and also improving soil quality are very important parameters for a developing country like Namibia, as these research output could benefit the country greatly.”
“Therefore young people should think about contributing significantly to meeting the set of the SDGs for Namibia, and align their careers within these SDGs and NDP5.”
Enkono expanded on this by saying that the idea of encouraging young people to do research is to have a knowledge-based young society, whose ideas speak to policy and influence implementation – from low- to upper-level.
“It also makes more sense that a lot of funding should be allocated to students looking to pursue their studies on addressing issues of climate change and adaptation.”
Enkono has done research in the area of water quality and availability, soil quality assessments (looking at the potential of biochar for soil fertility), common pool natural resource management and other environmental issues.