Africa vulnerable to climate change due to lack of resilience – Prof. Kamuzhanje

Professor Joseph Kamuzhanje, an Environmental and Planning Expert from Zimbabwe has explained that Africa’s vulnerability to climate change stems from inadequate resilience-building efforts by the continent’s leaders.

Kamuzhanje made the assertion in his keynote address at the 5th School of Environmental Technology International Conference, SETIC of 2024, with the theme,” Global Economic Revolution and The Resilience of the Built Environment in an Emerging World”, held at the Federal University of Technology, FUT, Minna, Niger State.

He urged African leaders to develop strategies to build community resilience and combat climate change.

Prof Kamuzhanje also advised African leaders to prioritise research where institutions are allowed to collate data for the success of day-to-day planning considering its importance.

“The biggest challenge we have in Africa is to get reliable data and we know that planning can not succeed without data. When planning, you need to know the exact people you are planning for.

“The governments of various countries in our continent must make data available for proper planning; the legal framework and use of archaic legislation is one of the major challenges we face in Africa and you can see that most structures are not data-driven.”

In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Professor Faruk Adamu Kuta, who spoke through the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Mohammed Abdullahi described FUT Minna as a solution hub with a reservoir of knowledge and capacity to solve most of the problems associated with the environment.

Earlier in his opening address, the host, Dean of the School of Environmental Technology, SET, Prof. Olurotimi Kemiki explained that the Conference seeks to address pressing issues by exploring how the built environment can evolve to not only withstand shocks but also thrive in an ever-changing world.

The Chairman of the Conference Organizing Committee, Dr Ezekiel B. Ogunbode said organizing the conference was quite challenging, especially in the area of funding and reviewing over 300 papers sent in among others.