The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) in partnership with the Environmental Affairs Department (EAD) through the Spatial Biodiversity Assessments, Prioritisation and Planning (SBAPP) project, has today started a three day training in land mapping.

The training, being facilitated by MUST and EAD, is targeting stakeholders in government officials involved in land management issues.

They include officials from MUST, EAD, Malawi Environment Protection Authority (MEPA), Department of Forestry, Department of Land Resources, Surveys Department, and Department of Physical Planning. 

The training follows previous engagements between the stakeholders and SBAPP, where it was agreed that for the government officials to collaborate with the project, they would need capacity building on modern methods of land mapping.

With the training, the hope is that the trainees will now be able to start the process of updating the country's land cover/land use maps in their areas of expertise or mandate.

Speaking on behalf of MUST at the opening of the training, Acting Executive Dean for the Ndata School of Climate and earth Sciences, Dr Chikondi Chisenga hailed the collaboration between academic and industry players, urging the two to always work together for meaningful development

“On our part, we are now asking our undergraduate and postgraduate students to ensure that their research projects are on issues that are real national concern so that their findings become real solutions to real problems. Even supervision for such projects we want it to be done jointly between us and industry experts,” said Dr Chisenga.

Deputy Director at EAD, Mr Ben Yasin urged the participants to be committed, saying the training will help them to ensure that their maps are current so that planning is realistic.

The collaboration will also enhance a close working relationship among the partners and ownership of the project and its products in the government echelons.